PM Hroisman promises to jail corrupt officials

Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman has commented on the detention of the Chief Sanitary Officer of Ukraine Sviatoslav Protas. Hroisman said the case would go to court.

As reported by Censor.NET citing Ukrainski Novyny, he said this at the Cabinet meeting.

"You will be jailed, I promise," Hroisman said.

He stressed that if an official cannot fulfill his or her duties in current conditions with given salary, he or she should get employed in the real economy instead of creating corrupt schemes in the office.

As previously reported, Chief Sanitary Officer of Ukraine Sviatoslav Protas and Sanitary Service Department head Chepurnyi were detained in their offices June 30.

According to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, a group of officials headed by Protas developed and implemented a criminal scheme for embezzlement of state funds. "The group has been detained upon encashment and receipt of the first tranche of the stolen funds - 400,000 UAH ($16,000)," he said. The minister also noted that of all the officials who had been offered to join the scam only one person refused to get involved.