Mykolaiv region: lawyer detained for selling fictitious disability

In Mykolaiv region, law enforcement officers detained a lawyer suspected of receiving $29,000 for promising to help a conscript withdraw from the Military Criminal Code's wanted list and obtain a disability to obtain a deferral from mobilization. The woman faces up to eight years in prison.

This was reported by the police of Mykolaiv region.

According to the investigation, the woman, who works as a lawyer, offered her husband, who is liable for military service, help in solving problems with the territorial center for recruitment and social support. In exchange for $29,000, she allegedly promised to assist in removing him from the TCC's wanted list, as well as in obtaining a second disability group, which could have been the basis for a deferral from mobilization.

Investigators believe that the suspect organized a mechanism for obtaining illegal benefits for influencing public officials performing state functions.

The woman was detained while transferring $24,000.

PHOTO: Mykolaiv Region Prosecutor's Office

She has now been served with a notice of suspicion of receiving an undue benefit for influencing a decision by an official, combined with extortion of such benefit. The court has already imposed on the suspect a custodial measure of restraint with the possibility of bail.

Law enforcement officers are also checking the possible involvement of other persons in the scheme. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.

Earlier, the court imposed a pre-trial restraint on Iryna Bondarenko, head of the Department for Physical Culture and Sports of Mykolaiv City Council, who is suspected of organizing a scheme for fictitious employment of persons liable for military service.

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