Fake disability: how many employees of state and law enforcement agencies are in the focus of investigators – the SBI response
Kyiv • UNN
The SBI is checking the legality of establishing disability for employees of state and law enforcement agencies. More than 2,600 cases are under suspicion, and a check on the authenticity of diagnoses has been initiated.
Cases of disability groups being established that raise doubts about the legality of the decision regarding more than 2,600 employees of state and law enforcement agencies have come to the attention of investigators. This was reported to a journalist of UNN by the SBI in response to a request.
The SBI reminded that during the pre-trial investigation, the circumstances of the legality of the establishment of disability groups by the SEC to employees of a number of state and law enforcement agencies, including the prosecutor's office, on the basis of which they were accrued and paid relevant pensions from the state budget, are being investigated.
It is reported that in order to verify the available information, searches were conducted at the location of a number of regional centers of medical and social expertise, during which medical and expert files of law enforcement officers, including prosecutors, who were assigned disability groups, relevant accounting logs (of SEC meetings, issuance of certificates, etc.), other items and documents that are relevant to the pre-trial investigation were found and seized.
Currently, the seized documentation is being studied by investigators with the involvement of relevant specialists in the field of medicine, and investigative (search) actions are being carried out to verify the diagnoses and the legality of the appointment of disability groups. In particular, cases of disability groups being established that raise doubts about the legality of the decision regarding more than 2,600 employees of state and law enforcement agencies have come to the attention of investigators, the SBI informs.
In connection with this, the investigation initiated the issue of organizing a verification of the reliability of diagnoses and the sufficiency of grounds for establishing disability groups for a number of employees of state and law enforcement agencies, including prosecutor's offices, before the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
Thus, the State Institution "Ukrainian State Research Institute of Medical and Social Problems of Disability of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine", which performs the powers of the Central Medical and Social Expert Commission of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, within its competence, verifies the correctness of decisions made by medical and social expert commissions on the establishment of disability groups
It is also reported that SBI investigators have notified 2 acting heads of district prosecutor's offices in Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions of suspicion of committing criminal offenses under Part Five of Article 190, Part Four of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (seizure of another's property by deception (fraud), committed on a particularly large and large scale), who, according to the investigation, fraudulently seized budget funds in the form of unsubstantiated pension payments.
It is noted that the investigation established that in 2020, the mentioned employees of the prosecutor's office, being aware that they do not have degrees of functional impairment and life activity that meet the criteria for establishing disability groups, with the assistance of officials of the SEC, illegally obtained Group II disability (for life).
After receiving the relevant documents, these persons personally applied for disability pensions to the territorial subdivisions of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, and on the basis of the calculations made, these persons were paid disability pensions in the amounts of UAH 1,074,236 and UAH 477,000, respectively, which is a particularly large and large amount, respectively
It is reported that investigative judges of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv have chosen preventive measures in the form of house arrest for these prosecutors and have suspended them from their positions for the period of the investigation.
"The actions of the SEC doctors are qualified under the signs of criminal offenses under Part One of Article 28, Part One of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (drawing up, issuing by an official a knowingly false official document committed by a group of persons)", - the response to the request reads.
In November 2024, the Ministry of Health together with law enforcement agencies are checking the decisions on establishing disability to officials.
Liquidation of the SEC
In October 2024, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, enacted the National Security and Defense Council's decision on combating corruption in the establishment of disability. Zelenskyy demanded that a bill be drafted to liquidate medical and social expert commissions from December 31, 2024.
Already on November 18, the bill on the liquidation of the SEC was signed by the President, which provides for the creation of expert commissions to assess the daily functioning of a person.
From January 1, 2025, a new system for assessing daily functioning, which is carried out by expert teams of practicing doctors, has been launched in Ukraine, and the outdated system of medical and social expertise has been abolished.
After the adoption of the law, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution regulating the liquidation of medical and social examinations and the transfer of their powers to expert teams for assessing functionality.
One of the main differences in the work of the new commissions is the appeal of decisions of expert teams. Previously, if a person did not agree with the decision of the SEC, they could file an appeal to the same commission where they underwent examination.
By order of the Ministry of Health, the functions of appealing decisions are currently being considered by the "Ukrainian State Research Institute of Medical and Social Problems of Disability of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine", which is located in Dnipro.
That is, if a person with a disability has not been assigned/extended a disability group, they need to contact the institution in Dnipro. The complaint must be submitted by a person in paper form to the Center for Assessing the Functional State of Persons, or in electronic form through the electronic system by contacting the complainant's doctor.
Based on the results of the complaint review, the Center for Assessing the Functional State of a Person makes a decision that may confirm or cancel the decision of the expert team, as well as form a new decision.
In addition, the Center may summon a person to itself to undergo additional examinations, which is not very convenient if a person with a disability, for example, lives hundreds of kilometers from Dnipro.