Author:  Tetiana Bodnia

New scandal with prosecutors: Head of Cherkasy Prosecutor’s Office Shevtsova receives pension amounting to 785,000 at age of 42

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Even after the dismissal of Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor Oleksii Oliinyk, the scandal over prosecutors’ pensions has not subsided.

And while the Prosecutor General's Office promises to conduct an audit of the system as a whole, journalists and the public have begun to analyze the declarations of heads of prosecutor's offices in the regions and publish data on those who receive the largest payments. Among them is the head of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor's Office, Kateryna Shevtsova, who received more than UAH 785,000 in pensions last year. Interestingly, this is the region where criminal proceedings have been investigated for several years over the fact that disability pensions were paid to 70 prosecutors.

The official website of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor's Office states that 42-year-old Kateryna Shevtsova has been its head since October last year. In general, she has been working in the prosecutor's office since 2004.

According to her declarations posted on the NACP website, she has been receiving a pension since 2020. Back then, the amount was UAH 186,627, and last year it was UAH 785,435. That is, about 65 thousand per month. 

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The declarations do not specify what exactly this pension is accrued for. In general, the Law "On the Prosecutor's Office" grants the right to a long service pension regardless of age to prosecutors who, on the day of application for such a pension, have at least 25 years of service, including at least 15 years of work experience as prosecutors.

Employees who do not have 25 years of service, but have worked as prosecutors for at least 15 years and have an insurance period of 35 years for men and 30 years for women, are granted a long-service pension upon reaching the age of 57 for men and 55 for women.

Prosecutors recognized as persons with disabilities of I or II groups are entitled to a disability pension equal to 60% of their monthly salary, provided they have worked in the prosecution service for at least 10 years.

Only the prosecutor's office and the Pension Fund know how the pension was calculated in this case.

Little is known about Kateryna Shevtsova in the public space. However, there are several posts on her Facebook page with photos from other people where she is recognized. And judging by them, this year Ms. Prosecutor took part in the "Leadership School for Heads of Prosecutor's Offices and Units" organized by the Training Center of Prosecutors of Ukraine.

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And as prosecutor Yana Talyzina notes, "the training was super interactive: Petros and Hoverla in one day, which equated to 29 km on foot". On the same page, there is another post about "leadership in the mountains" by prosecutor Kseniia Voronina. There is also a photo with the head of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor's Office, Ms Shevtsova, next to her.

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Judging by the photo, the ladies on Mount Petros are at an altitude of 2020 m.

By the way, her deputies' declarations do not list pensions as a source of income.

But they are in the declarations of some other prosecutors working in the region. One of them is Zamotailo Andrii Anatoliiovych, the head of the Cherkasy District Prosecutor's Office. It is known from open sources that he was born in 1984. He started his career in the prosecution in August 2006. He was appointed to the position of the head of the Cherkasy District Prosecutor's Office in March 2019.

Unlike his colleague from the regional prosecutor's office, his pension is more modest - last year he received UAH 251,160, according to his declaration posted on the NACP website.

Of course, if the prosecutors are ready to publicly announce the grounds on which they receive their pensions, we will publish their position. We would also like to know what the fate of the 70 Cherkasy prosecutors is now, as a result of the pre-trial investigation into their disability pensions, which has been conducted by the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation located in Kyiv since 2020. Are they suspended from work or do they continue to perform their duties?

We remind you that this criminal proceeding was opened based on the materials of the Internal Security Department of the General Inspectorate of the Prosecutor General's Office regarding possible facts of unjustified diagnosis of the disease and the corresponding disability group to employees of the prosecutor's office of Cherkasy region, which subsequently led to unjustified accrual of pension payments and caused serious consequences to the state interests, on the grounds of criminal offenses under Part 2 of Article 364, Part 2 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The pre-trial investigation is checking the circumstances that as of 26.05.2020, 70 prosecutors were employed by the prosecutor's office of Cherkasy region who were diagnosed with disability between 04.12.2008 and 15.04.2020.

This is stated in the ruling of the Sosnivskyi District Court of Cherkasy region.

Another court ruling, which extended the pre-trial investigation, refers to a set of investigative (search) and other procedural actions necessary to establish the actual circumstances of the criminal offense and confirm the guilt of the persons involved in its commission. In particular, the investigation examined the following documents seized from the Municipal Institution "Cherkasy Regional Center of MSE (Medical and Social Expertise) of the CRC (Cherkasy Regional Council)", certified copies of medical expert files and other documents concerning the 70 people.

It was also planned to conduct temporary access to things and documents in medical institutions, tax and pension services, prosecutors, etc., interrogate witnesses from among the employees of medical institutions, the MSEC (medical and social expert commission) and others, as well as send relevant materials and initiate checks and examinations of the legitimacy of the disability groups of the said persons.

Based on the results of their conduct, the issue of notifying the perpetrators of suspicion, allocating materials on individuals, etc. should be resolved.

As Censor.NET has learned from its own sources, the investigation is currently ongoing, but no one has been charged with a crime. Perhaps, not the least role in this was played by the fact that there is currently no mechanism that would allow prosecutors who receive a disability pension for life to undergo another MSEC examination. But examinations to confirm the diagnosis should have been appointed in order to make further conclusions. In particular, regarding the suspension of prosecutors from office within the framework of a criminal investigation.

When commenting on the scandalous case of Prosecutor Verbytskyi, Prosecutor General Kostin explained that the Law "On the Prosecutor's Office" does not provide for the possibility of suspending a prosecutor at the stage of an internal investigation.

In general, when I talked to lawyers about the scandalous story of disability pensions paid to prosecutors in the Khmelnytskyi region, which forced the public to scrutinize prosecutors' declarations so closely in search of pensions, several of them said that no one could really force any prosecutor to undergo an MSEC. Unless one of them resigns, loses his reservation from mobilization, and then the TCR will be able to send this person to undergo the MMC.

The lawyers' opinions were also divided on the further internal investigation appointed by the Prosecutor General. Some of my interlocutors believe that criminal proceedings should be opened and appropriate procedural actions should be taken.

"There is Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which gives grounds to immediately enter the relevant information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations after notification of a criminal offense or after the prosecutor independently discovers circumstances that may indicate a criminal offense from any source. And when the information about prosecutors of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor's Office was made public, it was necessary to open criminal proceedings, not conduct an internal investigation," said Oleksandr Liemienov, chairman of the board of the StateWatch non-governmental expert organization, who systematically deals with the reform of criminal justice agencies, including the prosecutor's office. "And to remove the questions that society currently has about prosecutors who receive disability pensions, a new medical and social expert commission should be created so that they can pass it. Yes, they cannot be forced. But the Prosecutor General can address them publicly and offer them to undergo a voluntary examination. Those heads of prosecutor's offices who do not want to do this, in my opinion, should write a letter of resignation. Society must trust prosecutors, especially in times of war."

Lawyer Serhii Lysenko, who has worked in the prosecutor's office for many years, also speaks of the need to open criminal proceedings, adding that the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Health could create an interdepartmental commission to send for a comprehensive inspection, first in Khmelnytskyi region. "From the publications, we have seen in the media in recent days, it seems that when you take a position in the regional prosecutor's office, your social package includes an option that you can apply for a disability pension. This is trash," he says.

And former Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksii Bahanets, who has worked in the system for 35 years, believes that criminal proceedings should be opened when an internal investigation reliably establishes that a prosecutor's disability was granted in violation of the law. "For example, an independent commission examination will be conducted to determine that the diagnosis made for disability is not true," he explains, "and then questions arise about on what basis the disability was granted, whether the prosecutor himself participated in this by providing knowingly false medical documents. At the same time, not only did he illegally receive a disability, but he also applied for a pension. If it is established during the internal investigation that the payments were illegal, then, of course, in addition to a disciplinary offense, there will be signs of a criminal offense," he said.

According to him, pensions can also be paid to working prosecutors based on length of service, so it is important to establish the grounds on which they were appointed. In his opinion, all this should be investigated during an internal investigation.

For his part, lawyer Oleh Shram, who also used to work in the prosecutor's office, emphasizes that prosecutors should choose whether to receive a pension or a salary, which is quite high. Then there would be no manipulations. But this requires a change in legislation.

People's Deputies have not yet commented on this topic, but as Censor.NET has learned, next week during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, it is planned to discuss the issue of sending an appeal to all law enforcement agencies to find out how many disability payments are made and on what grounds.

Tetiana Bodnia, Censor.NET