The Carthage Case – VACJ Appeals Chamber upheld decision regarding Kropyva’s relative

The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court 21 September left unchanged the preventive measure for the accused lawyer Oleksandr Dydych — detention with an alternative bail of 15 million UAH. According to the investigation, Dydych was a trusted person of Carthage case figure Serhiy Kropyva and is married to his sister.

The decision regarding Dydych was made by a panel of judges consisting of Nataliya Doroshenko, Serhiy Bodnar, and Daniila Chornoienka, reports the Anti-Corruption Action Center. According to the investigation, Dydych’s role was linked to the legalization of Kropyva’s assets, in particular through opening sham sole proprietor registrations (FOP) in the names of the official’s relatives, "Muza" Ivakhnenko and driver Kutsyi, and conducting their business activities.

In addition, according to the SAP and NABU, Dydych is accused of destroying evidence — receipts in the amount of 7 million UAH. Kropyva legalized these funds through his father by depositing them into a foundation’s account. The investigation also found that Kropyva asked Dydych whether he had studied VACJ practice regarding civil confiscation.

Kropyva’s relative remains under investigation in the call-center case

The "Carthage" case concerns a network of fraudulent call centers, whose protection, according to the investigation, was provided by Deputy Head of the Department of International Cooperation of the Office of the Prosecutor General Serhiy Kropyva. The investigation materials include data on 505 call centers. The VACJ Appeals Chamber has already earlier upheld the decision to detain Kropyva himself and Yelyzaveta "Muza" Ivakhnenko.

At the same time, as the Anti-Corruption Action Center found, Kropyva himself, as of mid-September, still had not been formally dismissed or suspended from his position at the Office of the Prosecutor General, although his suspension had been publicly announced by then-Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. An order to dismiss or suspend the official was not registered at the OPG, and the issue regarding him was not even placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors.

Earlier Informator reported that the appeals court kept Kropyva in detention with bail of 120 million UAH — the defense had asked to replace detention with house arrest and to reduce the bail amount to 2 million UAH, but the court did not accept those arguments. We also wrote that Acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalsky, in his first public statement in office, promised to complete the personnel procedures concerning prosecutors involved in the "Carthage" case.