Two Military Officers Caught in Corruption in Odesa

Two servicemen were detained in Odessa, who promised to help them avoid participating in hostilities and transfer to rear units in exchange for a monetary reward. The suspects face up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.

 As the investigation established, the defendants in the case – fellow servicemen aged 32 and 51 – offered their colleague, who was to undergo a military medical examination due to health problems, to help him be declared unfit or limitedly fit for service. This would allow him to be transferred to a rear military unit. For their “services”, they demanded $4,000, claiming that they could influence members of the MMC.

In addition, the junior serviceman was involved in another deal. According to police, he offered another serviceman's wife $3,000 to help transfer her husband to a military unit in the rear. The man convinced the woman that he had the necessary influence over the military leadership and threatened that if she refused to provide the money, her husband would be sent to the front.

Law enforcement officers documented both transactions and detained the suspects after they received the money – the entire amount from the woman and half from the man. During the detention, the funds and physical evidence were seized.

Investigators informed the defendants of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - obtaining unlawful benefit for oneself for influencing a decision-making process by a person authorized to perform state functions, combined with extortion, committed by a group of persons in a prior conspiracy. They face up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.

Recall that earlier the State Bureau of Investigation exposed a fuel embezzlement scheme in a military unit.

We also wrote that a scheme for illegal departure of tax evaders was exposed in Lutsk.