Abuse while receiving disability: Searches are being conducted in regional MSECs, hospitals and prosecutors’ offices - Prosecutor General’s Office. PHOTOS
As part of the investigation into the facts of unlawful receiving of disability, officials, including prosecutors, are conducting searches of employees of medical and social expert commissions (MSECs), medical institutions where illegal certificates and decisions may have been issued, as well as prosecutors' offices in several regions of Ukraine.
This is reported by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office, Censor.NET reports.
As noted, these measures are part of a comprehensive fight against corruption and abuse of office in the prosecutor's office and the system of medical and social expertise.
Searches are being conducted in several regional prosecutor's offices, hospitals and the MSECs, where facts of issuing certificates with signs of falsification were discovered. Medical records and personal files that may serve as evidence in the investigation were seized. Work is ongoing to establish the chains of people involved.
Complex investigative (detective) actions include interrogation of witnesses and verification of the legitimacy of medical reports on the basis of which disability groups were established.
How many prosecutors have disabilities?
At the same time, the Office of the Prosecutor General continues an internal investigation into possible abuses by prosecutors when obtaining disability groups, which covers all regions, special prosecutor's offices and the central office.
"As of today, there are 523 prosecutors with disabilities in the prosecution bodies of all levels. This figure is less than 6% of the total number of prosecutors and does not exceed 10% in prosecutor's offices. A significant excess of this percentage is observed in the prosecutor's offices of Khmelnytskyi (29%) and Cherkasy regions (27%)," the report says.
Two prosecutors have been granted I group of disability, 328 - II group and 193 - III group. Among them, 348 or 67% are men, 175 or 33% are women.
In addition, 386 prosecutors, or 74%, received an initial decision of the MSEC on the establishment of disability in the period up to 2022.
"According to Article 86 of the Law 'On the Prosecutor's Office', prosecutors recognized as persons with disabilities of I or II groups are entitled to a disability pension in the amount of a long service pension if they have the relevant 10-year service record. 229 prosecutors, or about 70% of those with I and II groups, receive pensions on such grounds. Almost half of the total amount of pensions paid to these employees on a monthly basis is accounted for by the prosecutor's offices of Cherkasy and Khmelnytskyi regions," the PGO said.
The prosecutors added that under current law, the MSEC is obliged to send a notice to the place of work of a person with a disability regarding the disability group and the reason for its establishment.
At the same time, such notifications from the MSEC to the prosecutor's office were received only in isolated cases (only 10 such cases have been identified so far). On 25 October 2024, the Prosecutor General's Order amended the Personnel Records Instruction to require prosecutors to inform HR departments of disability.
Corruption in the MSEC
On 5 October, the State Bureau of Investigation reported that the head of the State MSEC in Khmelnytskyi region, Krupa, was found to have $6 million in cash during searches. Suspilne noted that it was Tetiana Krupa, who is a member of the "Servant of the People" party in the Khmelnytskyi Regional Council. Tetiana Krupa has been working as the chief doctor of the regional forensic medical examination commission since 2008.
It was also reported that the head of the Khmelnytskyi regional centre of the MSEC was detained and notified of suspicion of illegal enrichment.
Currently, the SBI is studying the lists found in the office of the head of the Khmelnytskyi MSEC Krupa. They contain names and fictitious diagnoses.
On Monday, 7 October, the Pecherskyi District Court imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention on the head of the Khmelnytsky Regional Medical Examiner's Office, Tetiana Krupa.
On 10 October, Oleksandr Krupa, the son of Tetiana Krupa, resigned at his own request from the post of head of the Pension Fund in Khmelnytskyi region.
The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption has announced that it will conduct a second full check of the declaration of Tetiana Krupa, head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Centre for MSEC.
On 16 October, the editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, published information that 49 prosecutors of the Khmelnytsky region, headed by the regional prosecutor Oliinik, had received disability by "covering up" the corruption scheme of the servant of the people Krupa in the MSEC and the Pension Fund. In particular, the journalist provided a list of the names of all prosecutors and described the criminal scheme used.
Censor.NET also published a list of 30 heads of regional prosecutor's offices who receive the largest pensions.
Following the scandal, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy convened a meeting of the National Security and Defence Council, which resulted in the resignation of Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin and the approval of a plan to reform the MSEC.
On 4 November, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted a draft law to the Verkhovna Rada on the liquidation of medical and social expert commissions.
