Executives of a private university in Zaporizhzhia to face trial over a scheme involving 3,000 fake graduate students
Law enforcement officials have concluded their investigation and referred to court a case involving the administration of a private university in Zaporizhzhia, which organized a large-scale draft evasion scheme.
The perpetrators illegally granted graduate student status to nearly 3,500 men, allowing most of them to obtain a fictitious deferment from mobilization.
According to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, an indictment against nine members of the criminal organization has been sent to court.
The organizer of the scheme turned out to be the university’s rector and owner, who involved his daughter—the vice rector—as well as other department heads in the criminal activity.
The fraud scheme was based on gross interference with state registries and the forgery of the university’s internal documentation.
The fictitious enrollment was formalized through document forgery, the entry of false data, and illegal interference with the Unified State Electronic Database on Education (USEDE).
The investigation established that the admission documents were backdated, and the “graduate students” themselves did not actually study or attend classes.
The scale of the fraud is staggering: the licensed enrollment quota for graduate studies was exceeded by a factor of 13, as the institution was authorized to admit no more than 265 students.
The cost of the “services” varied depending on the urgency and status of the client, including both official and under-the-table payments.
In total, the scheme brought its organizers over 50 million UAH, with the amount of illicit gains from a single person exceeding 260,000 UAH.
The criminal group was exposed thanks to the vigilance of technical administrators of state systems, who noticed abnormal activity.
The scheme was exposed after the administrator of the Unified State Electronic Database of Education (USEDBE) recorded a suspicious mass registration of applicants and contacted law enforcement.
The consequences for the educational institution proved fatal, as the relevant ministry reacted immediately.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Education and Science revoked the university’s license to train graduate students, completely blocking its future operations in this area.
Man Arrested in Lviv Region for Shooting After a Fight
In Odesa on the evening of May 8, a man opened fire right inside a pizzeria, fired several shots from a pistol, and went out onto the street, where police were already waiting for him and quickly detained the attacker. The incident resulted in no injuries; investigators are working at the scene, and the motives for the shooting are still being determined.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs held expert consultations on the law regarding civilian firearms. During the discussion, key issues that the future law should address were identified.
