Deputy heads of the SBU in Kyiv and Rivne Oblast were caught taking bribes totaling over $322,000
Under the procedural supervision of prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, charges have been filed against the deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, the deputy head of the Regional Directorate of the SBU in the Rivne region, and a civilian intermediary.
This was announced by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.
All three are charged with receiving an unlawful benefit on an especially large scale (Part 4 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The civilian intermediary is additionally charged with complicity in receiving an unlawful benefit (Part 5 of Article 27 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
It has been established that the officials received illicit benefits from businesses in exchange for resolving “problematic issues.” The deputy head of the SBU Main Directorate in Kyiv and the region used criminal proceedings as a source of illicit enrichment.
For the mediation, he enlisted a civilian who communicated with the businesses and coordinated the transfer of cash. During meetings in the Rivne region, entrepreneurs were told the sum of $600,000 was required to close the criminal proceedings, change the classification of the case, and secure a promise not to interfere in business operations.
The bribe was received in stages: on March 6 in Kyiv, the first tranche of $50,000 was handed over as confirmation of the seriousness of their intentions; after that, the businessmen were provided with a “roadmap” for resolving their issues in the criminal proceedings; on March 16, the second tranche of $250,000 was handed over at a restaurant in the Kyiv region.
The deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine in Rivne Oblast received over $22,000 from a businessman through the same intermediary to ensure unimpeded amber mining.
In total, law enforcement documented the receipt of over $322,000. All three participants were detained, and the funds were seized.
The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
“The investigation is ongoing. We are identifying all those involved. We are continuing our work,” Kravchenko noted.
Operational support for the case was provided by the SBU’s Main Directorate for Internal Security.
Earlier, a border guard was notified of new charges regarding the provision of an unlawful benefit to a public official.
As a reminder, prosecutors from the Desnianskyi District Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv filed an indictment against a 34-year-old orthopedic surgeon who promised to help illegally transport a man subject to military service across Ukraine’s state border.
As a reminder, over the past year, operational units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with law enforcement agencies, dismantled more than 520 criminal groups.
As a reminder, in Vinnytsia Oblast, a military official was exposed for selling “leave” to her subordinates.
Additionally, in the Chernihiv region, a scheme to defer mobilization through fictitious employment was uncovered.
