UAH 1 million for 500 exams: officials who organised large-scale bribery scheme for issuing hunting licences detained - SBI. VIDEO+PHOTOS
Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation detained three officials of the Southern Interregional Forestry and Hunting Department who organised a corrupt scheme of extortion for issuing hunting licences.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the SBI press centre.
As noted, the scheme has been in operation since the beginning of 2024, when the head of the department, in collusion with his deputy and another subordinate, launched a "stream" of extortion for passing the exam and obtaining hunting licences. The members of the examination committee were forced to take a "fee" from hunting candidates for successfully passing the exam. Officials threatened those who refused to take money with dismissal, after which they divided the money among themselves.
According to the SBI, the officials managed to earn at least one million hryvnias for issuing 500 hunting licences. The detention took place during the distribution of UAH 30,000 received for positive assessments.
The three defendants were served a notice of suspicion of obtaining an unlawful benefit by an official, committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 3 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Pre-trial restraints in the form of detention for 60 days with the possibility of bail were imposed on them: UAH 10 million for the head of the interregional department and UAH 6 million for the accomplices.
The article provides for imprisonment for up to 10 years. The case is under the supervision of the Odesa Region Prosecutor's Office.
