Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Kravchenko was found guilty of official forgery to flee abroad, according to the findings of an internal investigation completed by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The Ukrainian news publication RBC-Ukraine reported the conclusions on Telegram, citing the official results of the internal inquiry conducted into the former chief prosecutor's departure from Ukraine.
According to the investigative commission, Kravchenko groundlessly used an invitation to the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, known as PACE, to travel outside the country.
The commission established that the invitation had been sent in the name of Kravchenko's deputy. After the deputy declined to attend the event, Kravchenko used the invitation to arrange his own departure abroad.
Investigators determined that Kravchenko drew up and signed the official travel order authorising his foreign business trip himself, according to the report on Telegram.
September escape and dismissal by the Verkhovna Rada
According to RBC-Ukraine, Kravchenko fled Ukraine in September and subsequently submitted a letter of resignation from his post as the head of the prosecution service.
Ukraine's national parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted on 15 September to formally dismiss Kravchenko from the post of Prosecutor General following his departure from the country.
Role of the Office of the Prosecutor General and PACE
The Office of the Prosecutor General is the central authority in Ukraine's prosecution system, responsible for supervising law enforcement agencies, directing criminal investigations and representing the state in court. Under Ukraine's constitution, the Verkhovna Rada is the country's unicameral parliament in Kyiv and holds the authority to appoint and remove the Prosecutor General.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, an international human rights and rule-of-law organisation based in Strasbourg, France, where lawmakers from member states meet for regular sessions. RBC-Ukraine, which reported the findings of the inquiry, is a major Ukrainian news agency based in Kyiv.
