SBU exposed chief of a district station of the Main Department of the National Police in Kharkiv region on bribe-taking for violation of the quarantine regime.

Allegedly, the policeman aimed to extort money from a local businessman for not writing a ticket for violation of quarantine rules. Moreover, for a certain sum of money, the policeman promised to the businessman not to impede with his business in disregard of the emergency situation in the region and restrictive measures due to COVID-19 pandemic. The “service” costed UAH 15,000 (USD 535) as the first tranche, and UAH 2,000 (USD 70) for every following month.

The chief of the district station was served a notice of suspicion of bribe-taking by an official (P. 1 Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The investigation is ongoing to establish possible involvement of other district station policemen into the illegal activity and to check whether the suspect concealed other facts of quarantine rules violation.

The operation was conducted jointly with the investigators of the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigations in Poltava city, under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv region.