Why the NACP did not pay attention to prosecutors with disabilities: former SBI deputy reveals analytical shortcomings
24 October 2024 14:33
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
In Ukraine, the scandal with disabled prosecutors only became a serious issue after a journalist investigation. The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) was supposed to detect a trend of increasing number of prosecutors with disabilities in their declarations. Former Deputy Head of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksandr Babikov told this in an exclusive commentary to "Komersant Ukrainian"
Oleksandr Babikov stressed the importance of analytical research in the NAPC’s activities.
“According to the law, the NAPC is a central executive body whose function is to fight corruption. And their main functionality is not so much drafting protocols and so on, but primarily analytical research, forecasting of developments and recommendations for eliminating violations of the law,” said the former deputy head of the SBI.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, only two prosecutor ‘s offices, namely Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy, stand out for the highest number of disabled people.
According to Babikov, the NACP had the data on the number of pensioners and prosecutors with disabilities, as all prosecutors submit declarations.
“The NACP had data on the number of pensioners because all prosecutors file declarations. The declarations show that they have two sources of income: salary and pension payments. What they should have done is to see these obvious figures, which show that there is such a significant gap – 23-24% of disabled people, compared to other regions – 5-7%. And such a significant gap in percentages will tell any analyst that there is a problem in these bodies,” he said.
This raises the question of why the NACP did not notice such alarming trends.
“This is not a frontline zone, and it does not mean that prosecutors from these two prosecutor’s offices took part in hostilities and were injured there. Pure analytics gave sufficient grounds to believe that the prosecutors of these prosecutor’s offices have obvious problems with obtaining the relevant disability documents,” Babikov stressed.
According to the former SBI deputy head, this is not so much a matter of legislative gaps as it is a matter of the competence of NACP specialists:
“Why the NACP did not notice this is not so much a question of legislative gaps as of the competence of the NACP specialists.”
It is worth noting that all medical and social commissions in Ukraine will cease to function by 31 December 2024. This became possible because the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted the relevant decision of the National Security and Defence Council.
As a reminder, on 16 October, Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, reported that 51 prosecutors in Khmelnytsky Oblast had obtained disability certificates using the “services” of Tetiana Krupa, the chief doctor of the Khmelnytsky Medical and Social Expertise, who is suspected of corruption.
Media journalists have learned that almost all prosecutors in Khmelnytskyi region have been declared to be disabled in the 2nd group, according to the decision of the chief doctor of the MSEC, Tetiana Krupa. They have been receiving disability pensions from the state for years and continue to do so, according to the decisions of the head of the Pension Fund, Oleksandr Krupa, the son of the corruption suspect.
on 5 October, officers of the State Bureau of Investigation detained and notified the head of the Khmelnytsky Regional Centre for Medical and Social Expertise of suspicion of illicit enrichment.
Prior to that, on 3 and 4 October, law enforcement officers conducted a series of searches in the official’s offices and at the place of residence of the official and her close relatives.
The head of the MSEC was found to have $100,000 in her office, as well as a number of forged medical documents, lists of “evaders” with names and fictitious diagnoses.
SBI officers found almost USD 5 million 244 thousand, EUR 300 thousand, more than UAH 5 million, branded jewellery and valuables at the home of the official and her relatives.
