Disability status for $8,500: scheme to smuggle draft dodgers abroad with help of doctors was uncovered in Odesa. PHOTOS
In Odesa, law enforcement officers have uncovered a scheme involving the illegal departure of conscripts abroad through the use of forged disability documents.
This was reported by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, as relayed by Censor.NET.
Details
The organiser of the illegal operation was a 34-year-old woman from Odesa, who was acting in collusion with medical staff at local hospitals. She priced her ‘turnkey’ document production services at 8,500 US dollars. She accepted payment in instalments: US$4,000 as an advance, with the remainder to be paid after the certificate confirming the disability category had been issued.
Investigators documented the recruitment of another client. The perpetrator advised the man, coordinated his actions and, through the doctors she had enlisted, arranged for fictitious ‘inpatient treatment’.
Despite the fact that the man had not actually spent a single day in any medical facility, the discharge summary referred to alleged repeated hospitalisations. On the basis of these forged documents, the medical and social expert commission awarded him a Group III disability status, which entitled him to travel abroad without restriction.
During authorised searches, law enforcement officers seized cash, vehicles, medical documentation, stamps and draft records.
The organiser of the scheme has been served with a notice of suspicion. The court has ordered her to be remanded in custody, subject to bail.
Investigations are currently ongoing, with law enforcement officers identifying the medical staff involved in falsifying diagnoses.
