15.3 million UAH in salaries for ’ghost employees’: five female staff members at Ministry of Health sanatorium in Prykarpattia region have been notified of suspicion. PHOTOS
In the Prykarpattia region, under the procedural supervision of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, a scheme has been uncovered whereby a state-run sanatorium received budget funds for years to pay salaries to people who did not, in fact, work there.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, as relayed by Censor.NET.
Fictitious employment
It is noted that at least 37 people were fictitiously employed at a specialised sanatorium run by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. They were registered for various positions, entered into timesheets, and had salaries and bonuses paid to them. In reality, however, these people did not perform any duties at the facility.
Investigators believe the scheme was organised by the sanatorium’s 49-year-old chief accountant, who had worked at the facility for almost 20 years and, from March 2023, became the deputy director for financial affairs.
The first fictitious employees appeared as early as 2019. Among them were the official’s acquaintances and relatives. In particular, her mother was registered in the medical ward as a nursing assistant, her son as a work safety instructor, and her husband as a chief accountant in her own department.
Subsequently, the chief accountant enlisted two more accounting staff members, a human resources inspector and the director of the sanatorium. This enabled her to register new ‘employees’, prepare the necessary documents, submit them to the Ministry of Health and receive funding from the budget.
How the scheme worked
It is reported that fictitious employees were sought out from among acquaintances, relatives and former staff members of the facility. In return, they were offered official employment history and contributions to the Pension Fund.
To make everything appear legitimate, false information about the time allegedly worked and the performance of job duties was entered into the documentation. The documents were then signed by the director, and the accounts department calculated salaries and bonuses.
According to the investigation, the bank cards into which the money was paid, along with the access codes for them, were held by the chief accountant. She withdrew the cash and distributed it among the participants in the scheme.
Thus, between 2019 and 2024, over 15.3 million hryvnias were wrongfully transferred from the state budget.
Notification of suspicion
Prosecutors from the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office have notified five officials at the sanatorium that they are under suspicion.
- The chief accountant, who became deputy director for economic affairs in March 2023, the director of the sanatorium, the payroll accountant and the HR inspector are charged with misappropriation of public funds through abuse of office (Parts 4 and 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
- The deputy chief accountant, who took up the post of chief accountant in March 2023, has been notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
It is noted that the penalty under this article provides for up to 12 years’ imprisonment, with disqualification from holding certain positions for up to three years and confiscation of property.
Precautionary measures
It is also reported that on 22–23 June this year, the court imposed pre-trial measures on four suspects in the form of bail amounting to 998,4 thousand UAH, and on the deputy chief accountant – 1.6 million UAH.
