Fraudulent call centers could have paid PGO prosecutors up to $3.5 million per month - UP

Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office could have received about $7,000 monthly from each fraudulent call center. At the peak in 2026, up to 500 call centers could have operated under such "protection," potentially meaning payments of up to $3.5 million per month.

This is reported by Ukrainska Pravda citing sources in law enforcement agencies in an article about the NABU and SAPO operation "Carthage."

According to the publication's sources, approximately $7,000 could have been transferred monthly to PGO representatives from each call center. If at least 100 "offices" operated under this scheme, the total amount could have been about $700 thousand per month.

However, the scale could have been much larger. UP sources claim that at the peak of activity in 2026, up to 500 fraudulent call centers could have been controlled. Under such a scenario, the potential volume of monthly payments reached $3.5 million.

These amounts have not yet been announced by NABU or SAPO as officially established by the investigation. This is information from sources of "Ukrainska Pravda" in law enforcement agencies.

NABU and SAPO operation against an alleged scheme in the PGO

The large-scale operation "Carthage" began on September 4. One of the key figures in the case was Serhiy Kropyva, deputy head of the Department of International Legal Cooperation of the PGO, for whom the court had already chosen a preventive measure.

During the court hearing, recordings of conversations were made public in which Kropyva, while discussing activities that, according to the investigation, could have been illegal, mentioned "the boss" and "Andriyovych." According to UP, Kropyva could have simultaneously collected money from fraudulent call centers and handled domestic matters of the then Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

Kravchenko himself repeatedly denied any involvement in "protecting" call centers and questioned the evidence of the investigation. On September 8, shortly before the publication of UP's investigation, he announced his resignation from the post of Prosecutor General.

NABU and SAPO have not publicly disclosed the further course of the "Carthage" operation and have not reported possible charges against other high-ranking officials of the Prosecutor General's Office.