Five people are now officially suspected in the new phase of Operation Carthage in Ukraine. These include a senior official of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and two police officers. The National Anti-Corruption Office (NABU) and the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor announced these notifications on Thursday, 5 November 2026, the day after the alleged network was revealed.
The investigators describe an organization that allegedly purchased the protection of security forces officials to carry out several illegal activities. Fraudulent call centres, drug sales, counterfeit cigarettes and counterfeit currency manufacturing are on file. Violence and abduction were also reported to have served the interests of the group.
This announcement marks a specific judicial step. On 4 November, the anti-corruption authorities presented the alleged existence and operation of the network. The press release of 5 November indicates that five persons received a notification of suspicion. It does not constitute a conviction or definitive recognition of the facts by a court.
Operation Carthage: three security officers
NABU does not publish any names in this new announcement. It details, on the other hand, the functions of the persons concerned. At SBU, he is the first deputy head of one of the departments. In the National Police, the notifications concern the head of a department and an assistant to the section head of the judicial police in the Kyiv region.
The other two suspects are the alleged network organizer and a man presented as his subordinate. According to the investigators, the former had already been the subject of several convictions before the formation of this group.
The qualifications selected differ from person to person. The communiqué includes participation in a criminal organization for the three officials of the security forces. He also mentioned the perception of an undue advantage for the head of the department of the National Police. For the Kyiv Judicial Police, suspicions include complicity in acts of torture and counterfeiting.
Call centres protected against payments
The mechanism described is based on relationships between a criminal group and public officials. According to NABU, the alleged organizer is said to have associated with his activities the executives of the SBU, the National Police and the Office of the Attorney General. People from the criminal community were also reported to have participated in the network.
The payments would have allowed illegal activities to continue without the intervention of the authorities responsible for combating them. Call centres occupy an important place in the file. Their operators reportedly scammed Ukrainian citizens as well as foreigners. The communiqué does not specify the number of victims or the total harm corresponding to this new component.
However, investigators describe a broader set than telephone fraud alone. The alleged protection would also have benefited from the sale of drugs and the illegal production of cigarettes. It would have covered the manufacture of counterfeit foreign currency.
To these economic suspicions is added a violent aspect. The group reportedly prepared attacks, abductions and attacks in order to defend its interests. The public text does not give the identity of the victims concerned.
At least 12 people in the suspected network
NABU estimates that at least 12 people would have participated in this organisation. This figure describes the assumed scale of the network. It does not match the number of notifications announced on Thursday, which remains set at five.
The Attorney General’s Office appears in the description of the group’s alleged relations. However, no one in charge of this institution is among the five suspects announced on Thursday. At this stage, the notifications concern the three executives of the SBU and the police and two alleged members of the network.
The communiqué does not specify whether the five suspects are in detention. Nor does it include their answers to the charges. Individual responsibilities and security measures are subject to the ongoing judicial process.
The case prompted a reaction to the Ukrainian Presidency. On Thursday, the head of the presidential administration, Kyrylo Boudanov, called for swift and firm action. He stated that functions, titles and powers could not justify escaping his responsibilities.
All persons in question are entitled to the presumption of innocence. The NABU and the specialized prosecutor’s office now state that they are preparing reports of suspicions about other alleged participants in the network.
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