Odesa Man Arrested for Fraud and Illicit Enrichment in Mobilization Scheme

Police officers detained a 57-year-old Odesa resident on suspicion of illicit enrichment on the desire of conscripts not to be mobilized.

According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police of Ukraine in Odesa region, he promised the men to influence officials in medical institutions to issue documents giving grounds for obtaining a disability group in exchange for a fee.

The police claim to have documented one of the offender's deals. He offered to help a man who intended to undergo treatment and collect documents for further obtaining a disability group to get positive decisions from doctors for a certain amount of money. To convince him, he referred to a wide circle of friends among influential people in two medical institutions and the possibility of influencing them to issue documents that would indicate a diagnosis that would give grounds for a disability group. The services were valued at $8,000.

Law enforcement officers detained the man when he met with the young man, and the latter handed over part of the money in the amount of $6,500 for solving his problem. The illegally obtained funds and other items of evidentiary value in the case were seized.

Investigators have now served the detainee a notice of suspicion of receiving an unlawful benefit for influencing the decision-making of a person authorized to perform state functions. According to the sanction of Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the maximum penalty for this crime is imprisonment for up to five years.

For the period of pre-trial investigation, the court imposed on the suspect a measure of restraint in the form of round-the-clock house arrest.

Кирило Бойко