The Odesa region ranks among the leaders in terms of convictions against call centers

The Odesa region has ranked among the top regions in Ukraine in terms of the number of convictions in cases involving fraudulent call centers since the start of the full-scale invasion. In total, courts in the region have handed down two of the 18 such rulings nationwide.

This is according to data from the OpenDataBot platform. 

<span><span><span><span><span><span>The highest number of such verdicts was handed down in the Dnipropetrovsk region—10. In the Odesa, Kharkiv, and Zakarpattia regions, there were two each. In Kyiv and the Kyiv region, there was one verdict each.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

In total, 27 defendants were involved in these 18 court rulings. Although prison sentences were imposed in 14 verdicts, only two convicts received actual prison terms of 5 and 8 years, while in 12 cases, actual prison terms were replaced with probation.

Another defendant was sentenced to two years of restricted freedom in a correctional facility without complete isolation, and in three cases, the courts imposed fines ranging from 51,000 to 68,000 hryvnias.

Earlier, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine imposed a pretrial detention order with the option of bail onSerhiy Kropiva, the former deputy head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, who currently works at the Office of the Prosecutor General.

During the court hearing, the prosecutor read aloud correspondence between Serhiy Kropiva and other members of what the investigation claims was a criminal group led by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. In particular, the head of the Department of International Cooperation is accused of covering upfraudulentcall centers.

Юлія Калабайда