Ukraine’s anti corruption investigators say that a criminal network accused of operating fraudulent call centers may also have carried out violent crimes in Vienna. The allegations place Austria’s capital at the edge of a case that reaches deep into Ukraine’s security services, police and prosecution system, according to derderstandard.
The network, known as “Chimprom” or “Khimprom,” is alleged to have run large-scale call-center scams across Ukraine, trafficked drugs, produced counterfeit 200-euro banknotes and used violence against targets. According to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), some of those violent acts were allegedly carried out in Vienna.
NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office say the group bribed senior officials to protect its illegal businesses from investigation. The alleged network included figures from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), the National Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office, alongside criminal associates.
In material released by NABU, investigators point to communications dated March 2025 between suspected gang members and footage said to show an office worker being brutally beaten. The bureau has not disclosed further details, citing the need for approval from the lead investigator.
NABU says it is cooperating with the relevant Austrian authorities over alleged illegal acts in Austria. However, Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said that, as of last Thursday, no Austrian criminal investigation was pending in connection with the Ukrainian probe.
The case has also raised an uncomfortable question for Austrian police: how internal information about a suspect reached the suspect himself. NABU says photographs of a BKA presentation concerning a man using the alias “Kryminal” were leaked to him.
According to the bureau, “Kryminal” distributed the images in early April 2025. The presentation reportedly referred to his stay in Austria weeks earlier and noted that, when leaving for Italy, his car was found to be heavily modified and equipped with an anti-theft device containing a smoke bomb.
The BKA acknowledged that the information flow was known. It said the presentation had been shown at an Interpol event elsewhere in Europe, where participating countries exchanged police sensitive information.
The allegations arrive amid a wider Ukrainian corruption investigation, “Operation Carthage,” which has already implicated senior law-enforcement figures. NABU says the network ran more than 50 call centers, employing around 2,700 people to defraud Ukrainians and foreigners.
Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, who fled to Austria after a search of the prosecutor’s office, has criticized the raids as politically motivated. He has described NABU and SAPO’s actions as an attempt to destabilize Ukraine.
For Vienna, the case is a reminder that transnational crime does not respect borders—and that the consequences of corruption can surface far from where it began.
