By Dan Peleschuk
Nov 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators accused senior security officials on Wednesday of shielding a network of illegal businesses, ranging from scam centres to drugs, part of an expanding probe that could stoke tensions between key law enforcement agencies.
Top employees of Ukraine's SBU security service, the National Police and the Prosecutor General's Office have taken bribes to protect the criminal ring, even helping to plan attacks and kidnappings, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said.
The SBU – which also carries out battlefield operations – confirmed in a statement that investigators were searching the premises of some of its employees and said it was cooperating with the probe.
The police said they had suspended the officers under investigation, while warning against "premature conclusions". The Prosecutor General's office said it was ready to cooperate, but was unaware of the illegal activities implicated by NABU.
WIDENING CORRUPTION PROBE
The NABU said the group's illicit activity included dozens of call centres employing 2,700 people that defrauded Ukrainians and foreigners, sales of cannabis-related substances, as well as the production of counterfeit cigarettes and currency.
First unveiled in September, the widening corruption probe forced the resignation of former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko after authorities accused a subordinate of helping run the call centres. Kravchenko was not charged with a crime.
Wednesday's allegations reveal the much broader scope of the criminal organisation, which allegedly involved at least 12 people.
They also threaten to reignite a long-simmering conflict between the independent NABU and the SBU, a powerful agency answerable to the president whose employees NABU has previously accused of corruption and intimidation.
Tackling high-level corruption is key to Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union and to continue receiving badly needed financial aid from donors to help it fend off Russia's invasion, now in its fifth year.
NABU and its sister agency, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), have targeted top officials in cases that have roiled the political establishment.
Tensions between NABU and the SBU have been acute since last year, when the security service arrested two anti-corruption detectives in a campaign viewed by NABU supporters as a pretext to roll back the investigative agencies' powers.
Since then, NABU has charged a former top SBU official with illegal enrichment and another employee with helping military-eligible men evade the draft.
On Wednesday, NABU said a top SBU official had threatened its investigators with a firearm when they attempted to carry out court-sanctioned searches.
Kravchenko, the ex-top prosecutor, said on social media the investigation was politically motivated against the SBU and aimed at destabilising the country.
AUTHORITIES CONCLUDE ANOTHER MAJOR PROBE
Separately on Wednesday, NABU said it had completed its investigation into its highest-profile wartime case – an alleged money-laundering scheme in the country's energy sector.
The case had ensnared a former deputy prime minister and energy minister, as well as forcing out President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's former chief of staff. All have denied wrongdoing.
NABU said it was still trying to recover the proceeds of laundered kickbacks that organisers had solicited from contractors of state energy enterprises, including atomic agency Energoatom.
The total amount laundered exceeded $111 million and €12 million, NABU added.
Ukraine ranked 104th out of 182 countries in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, under which the lowest-ranked country is perceived as the most corrupt.
(Editing by Andrew Heavens, Philippa Fletcher, Daniel Flynn and Alex Richardson)
