Was Kropyva on a Business Trip to Lviv? Official Response from the Office of the Prosecutor General

The Office of the Prosecutor General officially refuted the statements of “Carthage” case figure Serhiy Kropyva (“Kanzler”) that during his time in Lviv in early September he was allegedly on an official business trip. This was reported to Hlavcom by the head of the OPG press service, Maryana Haivska-Kovbasyuk.

“Serhiy Kropyva was not on an official business trip from 3 to 4 September, as evidenced by the corresponding information in the timekeeping records and the absence of an order for his business trip,” Haivska-Kovbasyuk said.

Earlier, during a court hearing, Kropyva stated that he had been in Lviv on an official business trip. According to him, he came to the city as part of work in the international cooperation direction and was to communicate with the regional prosecutor’s office. However, as Skhemy reported, the Lviv regional prosecutor’s office also denied that its head had met with Kropyva.

Recall that Serhiy Kropyva was detained in Lviv on 4 September as part of the NABU and SAP special operation “Carthage.” According to the investigation, before his detention he and another suspect, Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko, were on vacation in the Lviv region. After that they separated: Kropyva was detained in a car in the center of Lviv, and Ivakhnenko was detained at the train station.

NABU and SAP suspect Kropyva and his accomplices of creating a criminal organization that, according to the investigation, systematically received illicit proceeds from fraudulent call centers and laundered over 89,9 million UAH.

After the case became public, the Office of the Prosecutor General launched an internal investigation. Later, the OPG Department of International Cooperation was reorganized, and the deputy head of the department position held by Kropyva was eliminated. A disciplinary complaint against him is under review by the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors.