SBU staff reportedly ordered to pay up to 150,000 hryvnias toward general’s bail

Ukraine's SBU Security Service is reportedly demanding compensation from regional employees to help fund the bail of General Serhii Duka, who is accused of ties to a criminal organization in the Carthage case. Law enforcement sources have told Ukrainska Pravda that staff in SBU's Main Directorate D and the Main Directorate for Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in Economic Security are being asked to contribute between 50,000 hryvnias ($1,102) and 150,000 hryvnias ($3,307) each.

After making the payments, employees must capture screenshots of their receipts and forward them to their supervisors. Department heads are then responsible for compiling these contributions and reporting them to Kyiv. Reports emerged on November 7 that employees were being urged to raise funds for Duka's bail, with messages circulating among agency personnel detailing the High Anti-Corruption Court's bank account information and the case number.

Earlier that month, NABU and SAPO announced the discovery of a drug syndicate with suspected Russian connections in the Carthage investigation. SBU Gen. Serhii Duka, along with National Police officials Volodymyr Tsenov, Oleksandr Demianchuk, and Vitalii Rybalko, were taken into custody on November 4. SBU chief Oleksandr Poklad later dismissed two senior security service officials connected to the investigation.

Duka was subsequently ordered held without bail by the High Anti-Corruption Court on November 6, with a bail amount of 60 million hryvnias ($1.32 million). His defense team plans to contest the ruling.