In Drohobych, law enforcement officers detained a 48-year-old local resident who, according to the investigation, demanded and received 1,300 US dollars to “sort out” the issue of an applicant’s admission to a college.
Preliminary findings indicate that the man received the money from a draft-age applicant who planned to enrol at one of Drohobych’s colleges in order to obtain a deferral from mobilisation into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. For this sum, the suspect gave his “client” instructions on how to sit the entrance exams and promised to influence members of the admissions committee to secure a positive decision on enrolment.
The offender was exposed by investigators from the department for the investigation of particularly serious crimes of the investigative directorate of the Lviv Region Police, together with operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine in Lviv Region, under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Specialised Defence Prosecutor’s Office for the Western Region.
On 31 July, law enforcement officers detained the suspect in Drohobych under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine after he received an unlawful benefit from the applicant.
Investigators have notified the man that he is suspected of committing a criminal offence under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (trading in influence). The article provides for a penalty of imprisonment for a term of three to eight years with confiscation of property. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.