Former head of medical commission sentenced to five years in prison for bribery in disability case

In Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region, a former head of a regional medical and social expert commission (MSEC) from the Donetsk region has been sentenced to five years in prison for demanding a $5,000 bribe in exchange for granting disability status.

According to Ukrinform, this was reported on the website of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

“After being relocated from the Donetsk region, the regional medical and social expert commission of one of the medical and social examination centers operated in Khmelnytskyi and reviewed applications for disability status from internally displaced persons and residents of temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In August 2024, a man applied to the institution to obtain disability status. During the conversation, the head of the MSEC stated that granting him a Group III disability would cost $5,000,” the statement says.

It is noted that the man subsequently contacted law enforcement authorities. In December 2024, the official was detained while receiving the illegal payment. During searches at her residence, law enforcement officers seized more than $20,000 in cash.

The official was found guilty of accepting an unlawful benefit by a public official combined with extortion under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court sentenced her to five years in prison with confiscation of property.

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As reported by Ukrinform, police uncovered a criminal scheme in medical institutions involving the issuance of fake disability statuses, with participants allegedly earning more than UAH 200 million.

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