From Call Centers to Online Gambling: How Operation “Carthage” Exposed Protective Schemes in the Office of the Prosecutor General

The subjects of “Carthage” may have been “protecting” not only fraudulent call centers but also the gambling business. In one of the conversations, a recording of which is available to the media, a voice that investigators say belongs to the suspect in the case Ivan Tymoshenko says that gambling is “their thing too.”

This is reported by Slidstvo.Info citing sources in law enforcement agencies.

Former head of the Information Technology Department of the Office of the Prosecutor General Ivan Tymoshenko was handed a notice of suspicion as part of the NABU and SAP operation “Carthage.” 22 the High Anti-Corruption Court chose pretrial detention for him with the alternative of posting bail in the amount of 8 million UAH.

Tymoshenko has maintained friendly relations with the suspect accused of organizing the “protection” scheme for fraudulent call centers, Serhiy Kropyva, at least since 2020. Since then they have worked together in leadership positions, including in the National Police, Odesa Regional State Administration, and the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Law enforcement officers believe Tymoshenko helped Kropyva organize the scheme’s operations. According to the investigation, to do this he appointed Danylo Slipchuk to the Office of the Prosecutor General’s Information Technology Department, through whom participants received cash from the call centers, exchanged it into other currencies, and converted it into cryptocurrency.

In addition, Tymoshenko helped recruit other people into the scheme. In particular, sources for Slidstvo.Info say he was looking for “couriers” who collected cash from call center representatives. To conceal these operations, they used passwords for meetings and cars with other people’s license plates to transport the money.

Allegedly, Tymoshenko passed bribes from representatives of the “offices” to Kropyva and distributed them among other members of the criminal organization.

The man’s position gave him access to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, which contains information about criminal proceedings. Law enforcement officers believe this helped scheme participants monitor the situation around the call centers.

Slidstvo.Info also has a conversation about fraudulent call centers and gambling. On it are voices that investigators say belong to Ivan Tymoshenko and the deputy head of the State Tax Service, Ihor Panchenko:

P.: And this, wait, OnlyFans — understood. And what’s up with your popular one? Scammers, call centers — is that your area?

T.: Well, us.

P.: The lines, yours, right?

T.: Well, we’re investigating who’s doing what.

P.: Listen, okay, and what about gambling, online gambling — is that your area too?

T.: Well, yes.

P.: Oh, do you work with these, with PlayCity? This new s**t in the Ministry of Digital Transformation that regulates gambling? No?

T.: No, in principle we can.

P.: So you don’t deal with that? That’s your sphere.

T.: We currently have some content...

P.: There’s money, there’s f**k, brother. It’s just f**ked up. It’s not a single one.

T.: No, well.

P.: There are hundreds of them, there’s a whole army.

It is worth noting that the Office of the Prosecutor General’s Information Technology Department, where Tymoshenko worked until 11 September, provides digital transformation, technical support, and information security for the prosecutor’s offices and does not conduct investigations of fraud or gambling.

Slidstvo.Info also has a conversation in which, according to investigators, the voices sound similar to those of Tymoshenko and Kropyva:

K.: What’s up?

T.: Vasylych, about what we talked about, about what they’re “picking at,” on what.

K.: Price?

T.: Yes, the price.

K.: Well, probably in any case. Well, you know, even an idiot would understand that.

T.: But Danya has already reviewed everything, said: we’re not there.

K.: Good that there are people who...

T.: Well, like, for the storyline it’s nothing, but from 800 how many? 10 people?

K.: Oh, that’s 800 numbers, like, right?

T.: Well, 860 numbers, and there 10 storylines.

K.: But there are many who haven’t registered, haven’t completed registration in their own name. Ivan Oleksandrovych (laughs). But there are, f**k, smarter ones.