Zelenskiy wants swift exit of Ukraine's prosecutor general as graft clashes plague government

By Anna Pruchnicka

KYIV, Sept 14 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr ‌Zelenskiy called on Ukrainian ​lawmakers on ​Monday to swiftly support the removal of Ukraine's prosecutor general, the latest senior official in his wartime administration to be embroiled in a clash with anti-corruption agencies.

Graft scandals have chipped away at Zelenskiy's trust and public ‌approval ratings with the devastating war with Russia in its fifth year and the population enduring regular ⁠bombardment.

Ukraine is also struggling to show international partners it can implement anti-corruption reforms that are required to unlock tens of billions of dollars of funding ‌needed to keep the country afloat.

Rooting out ‌corruption is critical to Kyiv's bid for membership of the European Union.

Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko resigned his post last week after a corruption investigation reached his office. He was not charged with a crime or named a suspect in any ​investigation, but authorities had accused a subordinate of leading a fraud ring.

Kravchenko said that he was on an offcial business trip abroad.

Relations between Ukraine's independent anti-corruption watchdogs and other law-enforcement agencies have faced continuous strain over the past year.

"None of this is ⁠normal, and it does the utmost harm to Ukraine's image in the world," Kyrylo Budanov, head of Zelenskiy's office, was quoted as saying by the Ukrainska Pravda media ​outlet.

AGENCIES MAKE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST EACH OTHER

Kravchenko said on Monday that he had signed a "suspicion notice" against the head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), one of the bodies investigating his office.

He alleged that ​NABU head Semen Kryvonos has forged official documents to obtain "an unlawful benefit ‌on an exceptionally large scale" and accused him of a fictional adoption to "evade legal liability in court".

The NABU and SAPO, the other anti-graft agency involved in the probe that led to the prosecutor ⁠general's resignation, said that Kravchenko's statement was another step in a "systematic attack on independent anti-corruption bodies." They denied the allegations in Kravchenko's statement and said that Kryvonos had not been formally charged.

The NABU and SAPO had accused Kravchenko's subordinate of taking bribes for helping to cover up call ⁠centres that defrauded Ukrainians and foreigners.

Kravchenko also said that he signed a second notice of suspicion against an unnamed person close to the head ​of SAPO.

He alleged that the reason for the investigation by NABU and SAPO was to get access to the proceedings on their heads and employees, and to remove him from the office.

The case was the latest in a series of high-profile corruption scandals that have claimed the jobs ‌of senior officials in Zelenskiy's government and forced several wartime shake-ups.

PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON KRAVCHENKO'S RESIGNATION

Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said that parliament had already received a formal request from Zelenskiy to accept Kravchenko's ‌resignation. Parliament would hold a vote on Tuesday, several lawmakers said.

"There is only one path for this Prosecutor General: removal from office. That is ⁠what I told him," Zelenskiy said on the ‌Telegram app.

Kravchenko had been criticised by opponents ​for allegedly participating in an attempt to roll back the independence of NABU and SAPO last year – accusations he has denied.

(Reporting by Reuters in Kyiv and Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Editing by Alex Richardson ‌and Toby Chopra)

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