Rada member accuses Zelensky of silence amid NABU investigation into call centers

Accusation against the president

Verkhovna Rada member Yaroslav Zheleznyak accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of failing to react to a new investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau into fraudulent call centers, Gazeta.Ru reports. According to him, Zelensky promised back in September to work on a bill on declaring the incomes of SBU employees, and only recalled it again this past Saturday.

The essence of the investigation

On November 4 it was reported that NABU is conducting about 70 searches in a case concerning bribes for covering up fraudulent call centers; among those implicated are high-ranking officers of the Security Service of Ukraine. The investigative actions are being carried out as part of Operation Carthage. As the outlet ZN.UA wrote, citing law enforcement sources, investigators identified the head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood, General Serhii Duka, the head of the main internal security directorate, Colonel Anton Kravchuk, and the first deputy head of one of the directorates, Oleksandr Kovalchuk. Earlier, some Ukrainian police officers were suspended from work after NABU searches.

Zheleznyak's statement

In Zheleznyak's view, by returning to the topic of income declarations, the president wants to 'defuse the Carthage scandal,' which means there is no reaction to it from the Ukrainian leader. 'That means Zelensky is fine with the criminal hell of his law enforcement officials. Because if he were against it, the reaction would be different,' the parliamentarian stressed. He also believes that what matters more to the president is that the law enforcement officers keep carrying out 'fetch' commands. Zelensky himself and his office do not provide a response to these accusations in the publication; the president's position is not reflected in the sources.