Lviv Region Tractor License Bribery Scheme Exposed
The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) together with prosecutors have exposed the leadership of the Main Department of the State Service for Food and Consumer Protection in Lviv region for bribery. According to the investigation, the head of the main department, Volodymyr Bilyk, together with the subordinate head of the agricultural machinery registration department, Roman Tetyuk, and the head of the controlled company, made money by selling tractor driver licenses without training. In total, 10 people were involved in the scheme.
As reported by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Lviv Region Prosecutor's Office, two heads of different units of the State Service for the Supervision of Food and Consumer Protection in the Lviv region, together with the co-founder of a local society, organized a scheme to sell tractor driver licenses under the guise of paid educational services. They involved five specialists from the State Service for the Supervision of Food and Consumer Protection, the director, and a methodologist of a controlled society in the scheme.
According to the investigation, the organizers developed a plan in advance to disguise the illicit benefit as official tuition fees.
For this purpose, a controlled company was registered in January 2026, co-founded by one of the organizers. Having received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the company officially provided services for training and advanced training of tractor drivers. However, the payment actually guaranteed applicants the opportunity not to attend classes and to receive documents without hindrance.
Law enforcement officers found out that the company's director and a methodologist were directly responsible for the operation of the fictitious institution. They submitted official documents to the Ministry of Education and Science, and the methodologist additionally filled the company's website with fake data about teachers and entered information about "students" into the Unified State Electronic Database on Education.
Meanwhile, five specialists from the State Service for Food and Consumer Protection advised the company's management on document preparation, provided templates for forming training groups, and helped forge special equipment rental contracts to create the appearance of having a training facility.
In addition, employees of the fictitious educational institution personally searched among local residents for clients willing to buy a certificate for 15 thousand UAH. At the same time, a clear rule was in effect: if any of the applicants expressed a desire to actually attend classes, they were expelled.
The final stage of the scheme was the issuance of documents. The same specialists of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection were members of the examination commissions and formally took theoretical and practical exams. Without conducting a real test of knowledge, they entered knowingly false data about successful passing and made decisions on the issuance of certificates.
According to operational data, from June to September 2026, more than UAH 1 million was received from at least 80 citizens into the account of the controlled company.
All ten participants in the scheme were informed of suspicions of an official receiving an unlawful benefit in a conspiracy with a group of persons (Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Law enforcement officers are not disclosing their names. According to media reports, suspicion of organizing a corruption scheme was received by the head of the main department of the State Service for the Supervision of Food and Consumer Protection in Lviv region, Volodymyr Bilyk, head of the agricultural machinery registration department Roman Tetyuk, and the owner of the company “Production Educational and Qualification Advisory Center “Lev”” LLC, registered eight months ago, Ivan Struganiv. The director of this company is Vasyl Petrynets, who was also suspected of being an accomplice.
Earlier, in Vinnytsia region, law enforcement officers detained the director of a state institution and five other people suspected of organizing a scheme to illegally legalize foreigners.
In addition, a supplier from Volyn is suspected of embezzling UAH 3.9 million.
