Zelenskyy Promises More Dismissals at Ukraine Security Service After Corruption Scandal

KYIV, Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised more personnel decisions at Ukraine's domestic security service, the SBU, on Saturday, after anti-corruption authorities charged several senior security and law enforcement officials over their alleged role in shielding a criminal network, Reuters reported.

In his evening address, Zelenskyy called the alleged crimes "frankly shameful, absolutely unacceptable." He said dismissals had already taken place inside the service. "There have already been dismissals in the Security Service of Ukraine because of this, and there will be other personnel decisions," he said, according to Reuters. He said he expected a full investigation with results.

Zelenskyy also said he had proposed new legislation that would require all employees of the SBU to publicly declare their assets. The service holds broad law enforcement and military powers in Ukraine, and its staff have not faced that kind of routine public disclosure.

What investigators say the network did

The case is run by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), which named it Operation Carthage. Investigators say the group ran scam call centres, traded drugs and produced fake currency and cigarettes, with the help of senior employees of the SBU, the National Police and the Prosecutor General's Office, Reuters reported.

The two agencies said the alleged network involved at least 12 people. They said a suspected ringleader with several previous convictions recruited officials from the three agencies, along with people from the criminal underworld, Anadolu Agency reported. The charges are allegations. No court has ruled on them, and the suspects are entitled to defend themselves in the proceedings.

Dismissals and arrests this week

The case became public on Wednesday, November 4, when the anti-corruption agencies announced the scheme and searched premises linked to SBU officials. Later that day, SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad dismissed two high-ranking officials and said the service would cooperate fully with investigators, according to Anadolu Agency and Ukraine's EMPR news outlet.

On Thursday, November 5, NABU said it had served notices of suspicion on a senior SBU official and two National Police officials, among other suspects, RFE/RL's investigative unit Schemes reported. On Friday, November 6, a Ukrainian court ordered the arrest, pending bail, of a former SBU general in connection with the case, Reuters reported.

The probe had already reached the top of the prosecution service. In September, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko was dismissed amid the same investigation, after anti-corruption investigators said an alleged criminal organisation was led by a department head at the Prosecutor General's Office, Anadolu Agency reported.

Anger during a war

Reuters reported that the investigation is the latest high-profile case against sitting officials to anger Ukrainians, who are living through Russia's continuing war against their country and have little patience for officials accused of protecting crime. Zelenskyy's promise of further dismissals, and his asset declaration bill, now go to a security service that has to show the clean-out is real. The bill would need to pass parliament, and the promised personnel decisions have not yet been named.