Prosecutor Serhiy Kropyva declared almost 300 thousand hryvnias in pension in 2025: through the court he secured payments from 2021

Prosecutor Serhiy Kropyva declared almost 300 thousand hryvnias in pension in 2025: through the court he secured payments from 2021

Figure in the corruption case "Carthage", 42-year-old prosecutor Serhiy Kropyva, through the court secured a recalculation of his years of service to 25 years, 6 months and 18 days and the granting of a pension from December 2021; in 2025 he declared UAH 283.3 thousand in pension payments. Kropyva is currently a suspect in a National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) case concerning the alleged "protection" of call centers, and the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) remanded him in custody with an alternative bail of UAH 120 million.

Glavcom reports. According to the information, Kropyva effectively fought for his pension rights through the courts. First he sought an increase in his calculated years of service, and later he challenged the Pension Fund’s refusal to grant him payments. As a result of the court proceedings, the pension was awarded retroactively from December 2021.

How much pension the prosecutor declared

According to Kropyva’s declarations, pension payments first appeared among his income in 2024. That year he declared UAH 165.2 thousand in pension; the following year the amount was significantly higher – UAH 283.3 thousand.

Thus, the average size of the pension Kropyva declared in 2025 was about UAH 23.6 thousand per month when the annual sum is divided by 12 months. It is important to note that this refers to the amount indicated in the annual declaration, not the specific monthly payment set by the court. Actual receipts may have been affected by recalculations and payments for previous periods.

How the prosecutor increased his years of service

The pension story began even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In April 2022 Kropyva filed a lawsuit against the Cyber Police Department of the National Police. Until the end of December 2021 he had worked there as deputy chief.

One of the main demands was to oblige the law-enforcement body to calculate his years of service so that he would become entitled to a pension. The key issue was the possibility of counting certain periods of service on preferential terms.

In particular, Kropyva asked that one month of service be counted as three months for the time he spent in a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. This concerns the period from July 2006 to December 2007, when he served as a patrol officer in the operational platoon of the special peacekeeping unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

In addition, he demanded that one month be counted as one-and-a-half months for certain periods of work in internal affairs bodies. This list included, among others, service as an operative of the juvenile criminal militia department of the Zolotonosha City Police Department in Cherkasy Region. It also concerned work in units fighting crimes related to human trafficking.

From 20 years of service to more than 25 years of calculated service

At the time of his dismissal from the police at the end of December 2021, Serhiy Kropyva had, according to court materials, 20 years and four months of service. This figure became the subject of dispute with his former employer.

The Cyber Police Department refused to count the disputed periods on preferential terms. Kropyva therefore went to court. The District Administrative Court of Kyiv sided with him and ordered the corresponding recalculation.

As a result, Kropyva’s years of service were increased to 25 years, 6 months and 18 days. Thanks to the crediting of certain periods of service, his calculated length of service grew by more than five years.

It is noted that the former employer attempted to appeal this decision. However, the appeal was left without consideration due to non-payment of the court fee, which amounted to about UAH 1.4 thousand.

The pension had to be defended in another court as well

After resolving the issue of years of service, Kropyva faced a new problem – the Pension Fund refused to grant him a length-of-service pension. Therefore, in March 2023 he launched a new court case, this time against the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Kyiv.

The proceedings ended in Kropyva’s favor. At the end of November 2023 the Kyiv District Administrative Court declared the Pension Fund’s refusal unlawful and ordered the pension to be granted.

A feature of the ruling is that the pension was awarded from 13 December 2021 – that is, effectively immediately after his dismissal from the police. The court applied the legislation on pension provision for persons discharged from military service and certain other categories of citizens.

After leaving the police, Kropyva continued his career in the law-enforcement system and worked at the Office of the Prosecutor General. At the time of the events described he held the position of deputy head of the international cooperation department.

It was during this period that significant sums of pension payments began to appear in his declarations. In 2024 this amounted to more than UAH 165 thousand, and in 2025 – already more than UAH 283 thousand. Thus, over two years the total declared pension exceeded UAH 448 thousand.

Why Kropyva’s name appeared in the NABU case

According to NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), law-enforcement officers uncovered an organization that allegedly ensured the functioning of a scheme for the systematic receipt of bribes from so-called call centers. The investigation believes that Kropyva, referred to in the law-enforcement materials by the nickname “Chancellor”, created and headed a criminal organization in mid-2025.

According to the investigation, both prosecutors and people close to them were involved in its activities. The alleged scheme consisted of providing actual cover for the illegal activities of call centers in exchange for money. These are structures which, according to law-enforcement data, systematically engaged in fraud against Ukrainian and foreign citizens.

A separate line of the investigation concerns possible money laundering. According to NABU and SAPO, members of the organization used various methods to legalize money obtained illegally. According to the investigation, more than UAH 20 million was spent on the purchase of real estate, jewelry and other expensive movable property.

More than UAH 12 million, according to the preliminary assessment of law-enforcement officers, consists of assets that were allegedly re-registered in the names of third parties to conceal actual ownership. Among other things, the investigation mentions real estate in a popular apartment complex near the Carpathians.

More than UAH 10 million, according to law-enforcement data, was placed by the group members in bank accounts of close persons. These funds were allegedly presented as legitimate income from entrepreneurial activity.

On 6 September the High Anti-Corruption Court imposed on Serhiy Kropyva a preventive measure in the form of detention. The term of the preventive measure is set until 2 November, while the court provided for an alternative in the form of bail. Its amount is UAH 120 million.