VAKS arrests “Carthage” case suspect Ivakhnenko with bail of around €386,000.

The High Anti-Corruption Court has chosen a preventive measure for Elizaveta Ivakhnenko, a suspect in the NABU and SAP “Carthage” case known by the alias Muza: 60 days of pre-trial detention with the option of release on bail of 20 million hryvnias (around €386,000).

This is according to a livestream of the hearing on VAKS’s YouTube channel.

During the hearing, a prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office read out recordings of conversations intercepted by NABU detectives in which Ivakhnenko is mentioned. In these exchanges, the case’s suspects discuss registering a sole proprietorship — in particular, in the name of Ivakhnenko’s mother — as well as transfers and deposits of money into the relevant accounts.

In addition, the recordings captured Ivakhnenko discussing with Serhiy Kropiva, head of the cyber department of the Office of the Prosecutor General, her appointment as deputy minister of education. Ivakhnenko believed she would be able to work remotely and combine that position with another — deputy dean of the faculty of cybersecurity and information technology at the Odessa Law Academy.

It was also previously reported that in the NABU recordings, Ivakhnenko and Kropiva discussed expensive purchases and the deletion from social media of their photos featuring luxury items.

Ivakhnenko herself denies the charges. According to her, the published conversation recordings are distorted and taken out of context. She promised to provide explanations after reviewing the four volumes of case materials.

The prosecutor had requested bail be set at 50 million hryvnias (around €964,000), but the court reduced the amount to 20 million hryvnias. The day before, Kropiva was remanded in custody with the option of release on bail of 120 million hryvnias (around €2.3 million).