Update: Prosecutor general's spokesperson denies report on searches at his office amid major graft case
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Editor's note: This story is being updated.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said on Sept. 4 that it was "conducting an operation targeting a criminal organization led by an official from Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office."
The criminal organization is "involved in protecting a network of scam call centers and laundering illicit assets," the NABU said.
The NABU detained Serhiy Kropyva, a deputy head of the international cooperation department at the Prosecutor General's Office, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.
The NABU also searched the offices of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, his deputy Maria Vdovychenko and Oleh Kiper, governor of Odesa Oblast, the media outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing its sources.
In 2025 the Anti-Corruption Action Center published an investigation according to which a brother of Vdovychenko works as a military prosecutor in Russia. Her father has a business in Russian-occupied Crimea, while her other relatives have Russian passports, according to the investigation.
In a comment for Ukrainska Pravda, Maryana Haiovska, a spokesperson for the Prosecutor General's Office, denied the report on searches at Kravchenko's office.
"The Prosecutor General’s Office employee whose possible involvement in illegal activity is under investigation will be suspended from his duties for the duration of the pretrial investigation," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said it would "fully cooperate with the anti-corruption authorities and provide them with all necessary information in accordance with the law."
The latest investigation comes as the NABU steps up its anti-corruption efforts.
It follows an August money laundering and corporate raiding case involving President Volodymyr Zelensky's former deputy chief of staff, Iryna Mudra.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the President’s Office, also features in audio tapes recorded by investigators as part of the case against Mudra, the media outlet Hromadske reported on Aug. 26, citing court materials.
The Mudra case is linked to last year’s probe into state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom — the largest corruption investigation of Zelensky’s tenure. The case also came on the heels of corruption charges against Zelensky’s former Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak in May.
