In the Lviv region, a scheme for the sale of tractor driver-machinist licences disguised as paid educational services has been exposed. According to the investigation, two managers at different levels of the Main Department of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Lviv region and a co-founder of a local company that formally provided educational services were involved in the organisation. This was reported under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Investigators believe that as early as January 2026 a controlled company was registered, with one of the organisers becoming one of its co-founders. Having obtained a licence from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the firm officially declared that it was providing training and advanced training for tractor drivers-machinists, but in reality payment ensured the issue of licences without attending classes.
According to the investigation, to implement the scheme the organisers involved five specialists from the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, as well as the company director and its methodologist. The director submitted official documents to the Ministry of Education and Science, while the methodologist filled the company website with false information about teaching staff and entered data on the “students” into the Unified State Electronic Education Database. Specialists from the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection advised on paperwork, provided templates for forming study groups and helped falsify special equipment lease agreements to create the appearance of a training base.
The company employees, according to the investigation, personally sought out clients among local residents who agreed to purchase a licence for 15,000 UAH. A rule was in place: if an applicant expressed a wish to actually attend classes, they were expelled. The final stage was a purely formal sitting of the exams. The same specialists from the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection sat on the examination boards and, without any real assessment of knowledge, entered false information in the records about successful completion of the theoretical and practical exams and decided on the issue of licences.
According to operational data, from June to September 2026, the account of the controlled company received more than UAH 1 million from at least 80 people. At present, according to the investigation, the unlawful activity has been stopped.
All ten participants in the scheme have been notified of suspicion of an offence consisting of a public official receiving an unlawful benefit for themselves and third parties for taking action in the interests of the person providing the unlawful benefit, using their official position, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). At the request of the prosecution, preventive measures in the form of remand in custody with the right to bail have been imposed; in particular, for one of the heads of the Main Department of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection the amount of bail is almost 1 million UAH.
It is reported that six employees of the Department have already been suspended from their positions, and the application regarding the seventh is under consideration by the court. The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation based in the city of Lviv. A person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a guilty verdict of a court in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine.