Ukrainian police leaked Austrian data to mafia: NABU case

Ukrainian police officers passed classified information they had received from Austrian colleagues to members of a criminal group, according to Oleksandr Abakumov, head of the detective unit at Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU). He says the group's members also attacked people in Vienna, beating several of them with hammers. The attack took place in March last year.

The Vienna attack was filmed

Abakumov described an attack on an office in Vienna linked to an investigation by Austrian law enforcement. Members of the group beat several people there with hammers and inflicted serious injuries on them. The attackers filmed everything to show their bosses the job was done, and then returned to Ukraine without any trouble.

According to investigators, the attackers belonged to a group that answered to a man with the call sign “Criminal”. He is Andriy Osipov, one of the central figures in the whole case.

Austrian materials were photographed and sent to the suspect

Because of the Vienna attack, Ukrainian police officers took part in a meeting with their European counterparts. The Austrians presented information there about the man they were interested in, that is, “Criminal”.

According to Abakumov, the Ukrainian officers photographed the materials they were given and sent them directly to the suspect, adding: “Look, they're already looking for you in Europe too.”

Investigators also found a threat in the correspondence of detained members of the organization: “Anyone who spreads information about our cooperation will be considered a personal enemy.”

“How can anyone talk about half-measures or partial personnel changes after this? The system has to change,” Abakumov said. In his words, the group's activities directly threatened Ukraine's European integration, as well as the trust and support of its international partners.

The mafia had allies in the police and security services

The new details are part of a large-scale investigation that NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) are conducting under Operation Carthage. Its aim is to expose a criminal organization that, investigators believe, systematically bribed senior officials in Ukraine's law enforcement agencies and thereby secured protection from prosecution.

A closed interagency meeting of law enforcement officials in July ended in a major leak of sensitive information. According to investigators, members of the organization received information about planned police raids from three institutions at once: the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the National Police. According to the investigation, at least 12 people were involved in the organization.

NABU previously reported on SBU General Serhiy Duka, who allegedly threatened detectives with a pistol during a search. NABU also claims he smashed two mobile phones and a hard drive with a hammer.

Besides violent attacks and cyber fraud, the group purchased special equipment in Berlin for producing high-quality counterfeit euros. Investigators seized test samples of the printed banknotes during a search of a car belonging to a person linked to the SBU, but the equipment itself is still being sought in Ukraine.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz