Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko on Monday amid a probe into alleged protection of fraudulent call centers, according to a decree published on his website.
Zelenskyy earlier urged parliament to approve Kravchenko's dismissal "without delay."
"There is only one path for this Prosecutor General: dismissal from office. That is exactly what I told him. Ukraine has seen all the reasons. If he considers this political pressure, let him call it that," Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Kravchenko submitted his resignation on Sept. 7 after searches by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) as part of "Operation Carthage," an investigation into an alleged criminal organization suspected of taking bribes from fraudulent call centers in exchange for allowing them to operate without interference.
Kravchenko denied involvement in the alleged scheme and said the accusations against him had not been substantiated.
He said Monday that he had signed a "notice of suspicion" against NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, accusing him of forging official documents to obtain an unlawful benefit on an especially large scale.
He also said a second notice of suspicion concerned a person close to SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko, alleging the person had influenced judges at Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court, offered them unlawful benefits and helped individuals evade military mobilization.
Kravchenko called the second case the "trigger" and "true reason" for an overnight raid on the Prosecutor General's Office.
He also alleged that the purpose of "Operation Carthage" was to gain access to case materials involving NABU and SAPO officials and employees.
According to him, the second stage of the operation was intended to remove the prosecutor general and halt procedural decisions in those cases.
NABU meanwhile said that Kryvonos had not received any formal notice of suspicion and described Kravchenko's statement as a continuation of "a systematic attack" on the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption institutions.
The Ukrainian parliament is expected to vote on Kravchenko's dismissal Tuesday, according to parliamentary officials.
