Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) are conducting a special operation to expose a criminal organization allegedly led by an official at the Prosecutor General’s Office. The operation, according to NABU’s statement on Friday, Sept. 4, targets a scheme in which the official allegedly provided protection for a network of fraudulent call centers, while also helping launder proceeds tied to the operation.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda said the agencies had already detained Serhii Kropyva, the head of the Cyber Department at the Prosecutor General’s Office. No further details have been released, though both agencies indicated that additional information would be made public as the operation progresses. Kropyva’s rise within the Prosecutor’s Office Kropyva’s appointment to his current post has drawn scrutiny before. According to Ukrainska Pravda, then-Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova appointed him to a senior position without holding a competitive selection process in 2022. He was her husband’s former colleague. Subsequently, Venediktova created a new department tasked with overseeing both economic crimes and the state’s cybersecurity efforts. Kropyva was placed as the head of that department – again, without a selection process – despite the position’s significant authority over sensitive law enforcement functions.