Law enforcement officers in Khmelnytskyi Region have exposed five people who helped conscripts and their relatives obtain disability status without grounds.
For their services, the suspects charged between $10,000 and $12,000, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
The organiser of the scheme was found to be a resident of Ivano-Frankivsk Region, who sought out people willing to obtain Group II disability status. He brought in an employee of the regional emergency medical centre and three doctors from a multidisciplinary hospital who were members of a military medical commission.
The medics arranged fake inpatient treatment for clients, invented illnesses and issued disability documents. These certificates then made it possible to register as carers for relatives or to leave the country illegally.
The scheme had been operating since June this year. Investigators have already documented two cases of forged documents for women, one of whom is the wife of a serviceman.
The organiser was detained in October during the handover of $11,500. Law enforcement officers carried out 21 searches, seizing cash, mobile phones, three cars and other evidence.
All those involved were served with notices of suspicion for influence peddling, while the organiser additionally faces allegations of organising the illegal smuggling of people across the border. A court has already remanded all suspects in custody with the option of posting bail.