Odesa College Official Suspected in Draft-Dodging Scheme
An official of one of the Odessa vocational colleges is suspected of receiving a $1,600 bribe in exchange for promising to influence the admissions committee to secure a student's admission. According to investigators, full-time study was supposed to be the basis for him to receive a deferral from mobilization.
This was reported on September 14 by the press services of the Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office and the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Odessa region.
According to the prosecutor's office, since July 2026, the 38-year-old head of the college's training and production workshop organized a scheme to help men avoid mobilization. To do this, investigators believe, he sought out men through acquaintances who did not have legal grounds for deferment.
The police found that the official was later approached by a woman who wanted to help her friend enter college. The man promised to help him successfully pass the entrance exams and influence the decision of the admissions committee. For this, he demanded $1,600, the report says. Law enforcement officers documented the transfer of money in two parts. First, the man received 5,000 hryvnias on a bank card, and later $1,500 in cash. After transferring the last amount, he was detained.
The man's money and mobile phone were seized. Investigators have applied to the court to seize this property.
The official was informed of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - obtaining an unlawful benefit for oneself for influencing a decision-making process by a person authorized to perform state functions, combined with extortion of such benefit. The sanction of the article provides for up to eight years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The court chose a preventive measure for the suspect - detention with the right to post bail in the amount of 133,120 hryvnias.
The police noted that the pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
