The director of a driving school in Odessa was sentenced for fraud involving a deceased employee

A deceased driving instructor remained listed as an active employee in the records of an Odessa driving school for several more years. The court concluded that the director knowingly submitted false information so that the school would not lose its state accreditation.

This is evidenced by the verdict of the Primorsky District Court of Odessa.

According to the case file, Anton Semenyuk, director of Odessa Uchkombinat LLC, twice submitted documents to the territorial service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs containing knowingly false information about a driving instructor who had been deceased for more than two years at that time.

As the court established, the instructor had been working at the driving school since September 2021 but died in April 2022 in Zaporizhzhia. Despite this, in May 2024, the director sent a letter and a medical certificate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ service center, stating that this instructor was allegedly still working at the facility and could conduct training sessions. He resubmitted a similar set of documents in April 2025.

According to the investigation, this was done to ensure that the driving school would not lose its state accreditation and to create the appearance that the institution had a sufficient number of qualified employees to train drivers.

In court, Semenyuk fully admitted his guilt, expressed remorse, and asked not to be punished severely. The judge found him guilty of official forgery.

He was fined 42,500 hryvnias and barred for one year from holding positions involving organizational and administrative functions at institutions that provide training, retraining, and continuing education for drivers. In addition, he must pay over 10,600 hryvnias for expert examinations.

Also in April, an illegal scheme for obtaining driver’s licenses was uncovered in Odesa. An employee of the Odesa Port Plant promised, in exchange for a bribe, to influence officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ service center.

Анна Бальчінос