The police carried out searches at Ukrainian Railway's premises in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast over a suspected criminal scheme by a group of the company's officials, the police and Ukrainian Railways said on Dec. 11.
The railway employees are suspected of earning illicit gains by manipulating tickets offered for international travel.
"The actions of the defendants led to significant losses and the creation of an artificial shortage of tickets for the most popular routes on the market," the police’s statement read.
"Searches and seizures of material evidence, hearings, and detentions are being conducted," Ukrainian Railways said in a statement. The search was conducted in offices, employees’ homes, and trains.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, trains became one of the primary and perhaps the easiest means of travel both within Ukraine and abroad, as airports remained shut, ratcheting up demand for Ukrainian Railways’ services. Over 600 railway employees have been killed since Feb. 24, 2022.
The state-owned Ukrainian Railways has also been embroiled in a number of corruption scandals over the years. In April, anti-corruption agencies began investigating a former presidential advisor, two company top officials, a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officer, and three other people over Ukrainian Railways' purchase of transformers at inflated prices.
Daria Shulzhenko
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