SAPO says safe with money is related to “Carthage” case, but it was not found in Prosecutor Generalʼs Office

The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO) stated that the photo of the safe with cash published by NABU relates to the special operation "Carthage". At the same time, the safe was not found in the premises of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO).

This was stated by the SAPO prosecutor Mykola Karas during the trial, where the defense of Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko was being selected.

"The official position of NABU and SAPO is that the published photo of the safe relates to the special operation ʼCarthageʼ," he said.

According to the prosecutor, NABU and SAPO did not state that the money from the safe was found in the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office. Karas also emphasized that the origin of the funds will not be disclosed yet, as the pre-trial investigation is still ongoing.

On the eve of the day, the lawyer of another person involved in the case — Serhiy Kropyva, Vitaliy Serdyuk — stated that the photo of the safe that went viral on the Internet was allegedly taken during investigative actions in another criminal case involving land fraud.

The SAPO prosecutor also spoke about the results of the searches directly at the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office. According to him, detectives seized $50 000 at the workplace of the head of one of the PGO departments Aydin Khudiyev.

In addition, during the search, jewelry and an expensive watch were found on his first deputy.

Operation “Carthage”

On September 4, NABU and SAPO reported on Operation “Carthage", which is related to a scheme to "cover" a network of fraudulent call centers for money led by an official of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office. The defendants invested the funds received in real estate and other property worth over UAH 20 million, and could have kept another UAH 10 million in the accounts of relatives.

In the records published by NABU, the leader of the criminal group is called “Chancellor” — the case materials show that this is the deputy head of the international cooperation department of PGO Serhiy Kropyva.

He is also suspected of laundering money in the amount of UAH 89.9 million. In addition, the investigators’ records include “Chef” — the former head of the State Tax Service. From December 2024 to June 2025, Ruslan Kravchenko was the head of the State Tax Service.

At approximately midnight on September 5, NABU detectives conducted searches in the offices of Kravchenko, his first deputy Maria Vdovychenko, and other employees of PGO. However, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office questioned the validity of the searches. They claim that there is no direct evidence in the SAPO and NABU materials that Kravchenko facilitated the work of call centers. Kravchenko himself also denies his involvement.

Two of the defendants in the case have already been sent to custody for two months — Kropyva with a bail of UAH 120 million, and his accomplice and cohabitant Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko — with a bail of UAH 20 million. According to the investigation, the woman could have been involved in transferring funds through an individual entrepreneur for legalization.

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