HACC left the Carthage case defendant Kropyva in custody with a bail of 120 million UAH
The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court left unchanged the measure of restraint for the former Deputy Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, Serhii Kropyva, who is a defendant in the "Carthage" case. He will remain in custody with the possibility of posting 120 million UAH bail.
The court made the decision on September 16. Kropyva's defense asked to cancel the first-instance court ruling and release him from custody or impose a more lenient measure of restraint — house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
Kropyva himself and his lawyers also asked to reduce the bail amount from 120 million to 2 million UAH. The suspect claimed that this was the maximum he could pay. The defense called the set bail excessive and also denied the risk of flight.
The Appeals Chamber did not support these arguments and left the first-instance decision unchanged. Thus, Kropyva will remain in custody until November 2 unless 120 million UAH bail is posted for him. Initially, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested bail in the amount of 200 million UAH.
During the appeal hearing, the SAP prosecutor stated that the investigation established laundering of property worth 41.76 million UAH for the period from August 2025 to 2026. Another about 40 million UAH, according to the prosecution, are related to operations in 2023-2025. At the same time, the prosecutor's office emphasized that the bail amount of 120 million UAH was not calculated directly based on the alleged amount of laundered assets.
According to the investigation, to launder funds the scheme participants could convert cash to non-cash through sole proprietors, register assets in the names of nominal owners, use cryptocurrency and a corporate investment fund. Part of the real estate, as the prosecution claims, was registered to relatives and other persons connected with the defendants.
The SAP prosecutor also stated in court that the investigation materials include data on 505 call centers, whose activities, according to the prosecution, were covered by the scheme participants. The alleged payment from one such center could be about $7 thousand per month, which in total gave up to $3.5 million monthly. These are assertions of the prosecution that still have to be verified by the court.
NABU and SAP announced the "Carthage" operation in early September. Anti-corruption agencies reported exposing a criminal organization whose members allegedly systematically received unlawful benefits from fraudulent call centers and laundered the proceeds. Five people received the status of suspects.
According to NABU, more than 20 million UAH of alleged criminal income was spent on real estate, jewelry and other valuable property, assets worth over 12 million UAH were registered to third parties, and over 10 million UAH was placed on bank accounts of close persons as legal income from business activities.
Kropyva denies involvement in receiving unlawful benefits and "protecting" call centers. During the appeal hearing, he also challenged some materials of covert investigative actions and stated readiness to provide a voice sample for examination. His guilt has not been established by the court.
Source: Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, Suspilne, NABU
