Ukraine anti-graft agencies say they exposed group bribing law enforcement officials

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office said on November 4 that they had exposed a criminal group accused of systematically bribing senior law enforcement officials to secure protection for scam call centers and other illegal businesses.

The agencies said the newly exposed scheme involved senior officials from the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police and the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as members of criminal groups. Earlier on November 4, the bureau searched the premises of SBU officials under a warrant issued by Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court.

NABU said a senior SBU official was obstructing the searches and threatened to use a firearm. Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing its undisclosed sources, that the official was Major General Serhii Duka, the first deputy head of the SBU's Department for the Protection of National Statehood. The bureau also said SBU special forces had arrived at the scene and called the security service's steps unacceptable. The SBU has not commented on the allegations.

The announcement follows a September investigation in which NABU uncovered a scheme allegedly involving senior officials from the Prosecutor General's Office. The revelations brought down then-Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who subsequently fled the country. The anti-corruption agencies and the SBU have been locked in a long-running conflict, seen as part of a wider struggle between NABU and the President's Office.