Position: Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanics and Energy, Lviv Agrarian University.
Sphere of corruption: education.
Region of corruption activity: Lviv region.
Qualification: Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: The Zhovkva District Court found an associate professor at Lviv Agrarian University guilty of bribery, but exempted the lecturer from paying the fine due to the statute of limitations.
Case plot: according to the case materials, in 2016, Oleg Sokolovsky worked as an associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanics and Power Engineering of Lviv Agrarian University. As stated in the verdict, the associate professor was appointed as the supervisor of the thesis of a third-year student of correspondence education. On March 16, 2016, the associate professor received $400 from the student for writing a thesis project. Oleg Sokolovsky also had to petition the committee of teachers for a successful review for the guy.
In court, the associate professor refused to testify, but his student claimed that he did not choose Oleg Sokolovsky as his supervisor – he was assigned one. First, the student contacted Sokolovsky, and then they scheduled a meeting to discuss the work. At the meeting, the associate professor asked if the student could draw, and then entered the number 500 on the calculator in his phone.
The student asked what it was, and the teacher replied that for this amount he would prepare the thesis project himself and take care of its successful defense. According to the student, the teacher did not name either the topic of the project or the literature to be studied and asked not to talk about money in telephone conversations.
In February 2016, at the next meeting, the associate professor showed the number 400 on the calculator, said that this was the final price, and stated that payment must be made by the end of February.
The student provided the court with an audio recording he made during his last private meeting with Oleg Sokolovsky at the university. The video shows the student coming to the associate professor, and Sokolovsky asking if he was “ready to communicate with our group.” After that, he whispered, “Come on, give me the money.” Then Sokolovsky began to explain the project and made a reservation that he was not the only one working on writing his thesis: “So we have a situation where someone’s team will finish it sooner, and someone else is in the process. So I’m giving you most of it today, come back tomorrow, I’ll give you something else tomorrow.”
The associate professor scheduled the defense of the thesis for another day, but asked the student how much he spent on travel, to which the student replied that it was 20 UAH each way. “So look. What will we do so that you don’t have any complaints against me? You had to come today and you had to come on Friday. (Starts to whisper) I’ll give you 40 UAH of my own money for the trip,” Oleg Sokolovsky said.
It is clear from the video that the student and the associate professor exchanged money – Oleg Sokolovsky even checked the authenticity of the dollars. “So I’m taking out what supposedly happened so that you have money for the road tomorrow (takes out money from his wallet - 2 bills of 20 UAH), and you take out your own.” In turn, the student gave Sokolovsky four bills of 100 dollars.
The verdict states that the associate professor contacted the head of the mechanical engineering department and suggested that the head petition the commission for a successful defense of the work for half the amount of the bribe. The head of the department agreed, and during a meeting outside the university, Sokolovsky gave him $200. The court fined the head of the department 17,000 UAH and also deprived him of the right to hold managerial positions for two years. Judge Mykola Lahnyuk found Oleg Sokolovsky guilty and imposed a fine of 8,500 UAH, but overturned this verdict due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: in addition to Sokolovsky, the court fined the head of the department 17 thousand UAH, and also deprived him of the right to hold managerial positions for two years.
Assets: There is no information about Sokolovsky's assets in the NACP register.
Persons who should have reacted: in the case of Sokolovsky, law enforcement officers reacted in a timely manner, however, judge Mykola Lahniuk found him guilty and imposed a fine of 8,500 UAH, but overturned this verdict due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Scandals: There is no information in open sources about other scandals in which Sokolovsky would appear.
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