Member of public organization detained in Odesa region on suspicion of influence peddling

Law enforcement officers in Odesa region detained a member of a civil society organization suspected of extorting $5,000 from a man with a disability so that he would not have "problems" at the territorial center for recruitment and social support.

According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa Oblast, the victim was applying for a deferral from military service.

Law enforcement officers found that the 54-year-old public order inspector of one of the public formations, having learned about the citizen's legitimate desire to receive a deferment from service in the Armed Forces due to disability, began to threaten him with obstacles and demanded an undue benefit for their removal.

In exchange for five thousand dollars, the offender promised to influence a familiar serviceman of one of the regional territorial centers of recruitment and social support to make a positive decision in favor of the man. And in case of refusal to provide money, he threatened negative consequences.

Subsequently, the offender reduced the price to $3.6 thousand, adding to the services the man's exclusion from the list of evaders. Law enforcement detained the man as soon as he received the money, which was seized as material evidence.

The court imposed on the suspect a custody as a measure of restraint with the right to be released on bail in the amount of UAH 60,560. According to the sanction of Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the offender faces up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.

Earlier, the police served a notice of suspicion of hooliganism to a serviceman of the Territorial Center for Manning and Social Support and two members of a public organization after a fight with shooting in the Khadzhibey district of Odesa.

In July 2024, the Center for Public Investigations made the film "Guarding the Odesa Cauldron " about civilian formations. It combined three text-based investigations about more than 30 civil society organizations, including the NGO "Ukraine is a Mother":

• "Volunteers" for budgetary funds, bodyguards a la volunteers, and government-backed groups: who is behind Odesa's CFs
• Guardians of Odesa's rear: who is behind the civil society groups
• Guarding the Odesa "cauldron".

Already in September 2024, after an investigation by the CPR, prosecutors exposed the deputy head of the "Law Enforcement Assistance Unit" for corruption. He is suspected of helping to evade the mobilization of persons liable for military service.

Кирило Бойко