Odesa Oblast's military enlistment official suspected of illegal enrichment

An employee of a military enlistment office in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Odesa Oblast, was charged with power abuse after allegedly taking bribes to help potential recruits avoid the draft, the State Bureau of Investigation wrote on Jan. 11.

This is one of multiple cases of power abuse, illegal enrichment, and corruption in Ukraine's military enlistment offices reported throughout the full-scale war.

The Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi's enlistment official allegedly arranged fake certificates of unfitness for military service for a $2,000 bribe and removed draft-age men from Ukraine's military register for $3,000.

The bureau said its investigators had documented the suspect receiving $7,000 for removing three men from the military register.

The law enforcement officers are conducting searches at the suspect's workplace, trying to establish other officials involved in the scheme and their "clients," the bureau added.

If convicted, the military recruitment official may face five years in prison.

A journalistic investigation into the extensive property of Yevhen Borysov, the former head of Odesa's military enlistment office, sparked a nationwide inspection into illicit practices in Ukraine's military enlistment offices last summer.

The probe revealed widespread abuses, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to fire the heads of all regional military enlistment offices.

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The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov