Ukrainian enlistment offices may have illicitly earned $7m, anti-graft inspection reveals

The Ukrainian national agency for the prevention of corruption, or NAZK, has found assets worth more than UAH 255 million (USD 6.98 million) of Ukrainian military officers that have not been accounted for legally.

In a statement, NAZK said that the monitoring of the lifestyles of the heads of military enlistment offices had revealed unjustified assets or signs of illicit enrichment worth more than UAH 255 million over the past six months.

Among those is the former head of the Odesa regional military enlistment office, Yevhen Borysov, who was found to have enriched himself illegally by UAH 189 million, and his subordinate Denys Halushko, who was caught with UAH 14 million in illicit enrichment.

The head of Odesa Malynovskyi district military commissariat, Viacheslav Kushnerov, enriched himself by UAH 47 million; his wife, mother, mother-in-law, and son were found to have unaccounted real estate and cars.

Anatolii Pikal, the head of the Dnipro regional military enlistment office, allegedly enriched himself by UAH 8.5 million, NAZK said, with his father and wife having acquired movable and immovable property in recent years with funds whose legitimate origin could not be proven.

A deputy head of the Poltava regional military commissariat also acquired unjustified assets worth UAH 1.8 million, and the head of the Sambir district military commissariat in the Lviv region enriched himself by UAH 4.4 million.

One of the most common corruption practices is bribery for avoiding mobilisation through decisions of military medical commissions, NAZK said.

"Minimisation of corruption risks is possible primarily through the digitalisation of all relevant processes, entering complete and truthful information into the Unified Register of Persons Liable for Military Service, as well as the exchange of information between all registers," the anti-graft agency added.