Two recruitment officers arrested in Kyiv over $1 million made from draft evasion scheme

Source: Ukraine’s security service

Over $1.2 million in cash have been recovered from homes of two Ukrainian senior military recruitment officers after police caught them selling medical examptions that allowing conscripts to avoid the draft.

The Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Friday they have detained two top officials in Kyiv recruitment offices and a man from the South Caucasian country acting as their intermediary.

The operation resulted in the seizure of $1.2 million in cash – the stack of mone were hidden in specially designed compartments under floors and inside walls of the suspects’ houses.

The scheme saw two officials charge draft-dodgers $37,000 for a medical exemption certificate.

The officials used their connections in recruitment selection centers who were allegedly unaware they were helping the draft evasion. The military counterintelligence detained their middleman at a Kyiv restaurant while he was receiving $50,000 from new clients.

A search of his home uncovered a large cache of weapons, including a pistol with a silencer, the origins of which are under investigation.

The suspects are currently in custody and face up to 8 years in prison over bribery and sabotage charges under art.114, 369 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code.