In Zhytomyr, a doctor earned nearly 100,000 euros by providing fake MRI results for draft dodgers

Police seize over 4.4 million hryvnias (almost 97 thousand euros) from doctor in Zhytomyr involved in draft evasion scheme.

The police of Zhytomyr region reported this incident, where a doctor was found to have received funds through a scheme that helped individuals avoid military mobilization.

Several doctors were involved in the operation, which allowed military-aged men to obtain fake disability certificates. The female doctor in question issued false MRI reports. The police discovered that several men of conscription age had medical records showing MRI results, despite never having undergone the procedure. These fraudulent reports were used as the basis for diagnosing diseases that qualified the men for disability status.

During the searches, law enforcement officers seized $8,000, over €2,000, as well as hard drives, optical storage devices, a laptop, a mobile phone, and other evidence likely linked to the illegal activity.

The doctor’s actions have been preliminarily classified under Part 3 of Article 368 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code (acceptance of an offer, promise, or receipt of undue benefits by an official).

This case comes after recent high-profile incidents, including the arrest of the head of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Medical-Social Expertise Center, Tatyana Krupa, who was involved in a similar scheme alongside her son, the head of the regional Pension Fund. They had amassed millions of dollars by facilitating draft dodging through fraudulent disability claims.

Krupa was detained by Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court for 60 days with the option of a 500 million hryvnia (11 million euro) bail.

Earlier this summer, in Poltava, the head of a military medical commission was also suspected of receiving 40 bribes in exchange for helping men obtain fake disability certificates to defer mobilization.