Investigation into Kravchenko's escape completed — new details emerge

The internal investigation into the circumstances of former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko’s departure abroad has been completed. Acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalsky reported this, Ukrainian Pravda writes.

According to Kovalsky, official vehicles of the Office of the Prosecutor General were not used by Kravchenko to cross the border. The former prosecutor general left in a Mercedes owned by a Lviv logistics company that specializes in transporting wealthy Ukrainians across the border. Prior to this, the former official formally declined state protection that he had been receiving due to his status.

“On Sunday, when he was leaving the country, he sent a message to the state security service that he was refusing protection, because he is a protected person,” Kovalsky said. “And also on Friday, 11 September, at 17:00, Kravchenko summoned the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General’s Department for Protection of State Secrets and took her official seal... This seal should normally be kept by the head of that department, but the prosecutor general has the right to take it. Accordingly, to affix the seal to documents. He kept it over the weekend and said he would return it by Monday.”

On Saturday Kravchenko was at his workplace, and on Sunday he came to the Office of the Prosecutor General by himself. The internal investigation found that the international department staff did not prepare an order for an overseas business trip. In other words, it is highly likely that he printed the order himself, signed it himself, and affixed the seal that he had previously taken with him.

The reason given for the trip was a request to participate in a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. However, that invitation was personal and addressed to Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Lohachov. The international department of the Office of the Prosecutor General had previously informed the organizers that Ukraine’s representative would not attend due to the official’s unavailability. Nonetheless, it was this document that Kravchenko used to leave the country. Office staff learned of the head’s departure and the falsified business trip only on Monday morning, when videos of him appeared online. In Kravchenko’s office they found the official seal he had left and an envelope with the signed order. The personnel department registered the document because employees had not yet understood the circumstances. Kovalsky added that Kravchenko committed a “shameful act” for which he should have been dismissed based on a decision by the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors.

“The internal investigation identified numerous violations of our instructions and departmental regulations governing how these matters should be handled. Essentially, he committed a disciplinary offense, a shameful act for which he should have been dismissed from the prosecutorial bodies.”

“Why did I quickly dismiss him in accordance with his submitted resignation? Because, in my view, Ukrainian society would not want to wait for official dismissal procedures — that would have been delayed by two to three months. If he had remained in the country, in Ukraine, perhaps we would have waited for that. The result would have been the same,” the acting prosecutor general said.

He also added that no material damage was caused to the Office of the Prosecutor General. At the same time, the legal assessment of the former official’s actions should be provided by NABU and the SAP in the framework of criminal proceedings.

On 25 September it became known that the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine had launched an internal review into the circumstances of former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko’s trip abroad.

At the end of September it became known that after his dismissal from the post of prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko was paid 340 thousand hryvnias. That sum included compensation for unused days of annual leave.