The SSU has shut down a large-scale corruption scheme in the State Emergency Service. A criminal group systematically received bribes from entrepreneurs for approval of permit documentation.

The scammers are officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and heads of its regional divisions, including the offices in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Rivne, Lviv, Chernihiv, Volyn, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyi, and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as officials of other state institutions, who involved private individuals in criminal activity.

According to the investigation, officials of the State Emergency Service extorted bribes from managers of large shopping centers and companies for accelerated approval of permit documentation necessary for conducting business.

First of all, the ‘scheme’ covered the approval of plans for the localization and elimination of consequences of emergency situations and accidents at potentially dangerous facilities, in particular in large shopping centers, gas stations and other facilities.

For the received bribe, the officials did not carry out an actual inspection of fire safety in public places, some of which turned out to be unable to provide civil protection of citizens in emergency situations, in particular, in case of dealing with consequences of a shelling by russian forces. Thus, they endangered the lives and health of citizens.

The monthly ‘profits’ from the ‘scheme’ amounted to over UAH 10 mln (USD 245,000).

As a result of 50 simultaneous searches across Ukraine, dozens of State Emergency Service officials who took bribes for fictitious approval of fire safety permits for public buildings and structures were exposed.

In the course of investigation, the SSU obtained additional evidence on this criminal group: information on other participants and on how the obtained proceeds were distributed.

So far, SSU investigators have notified 6 members of the group of suspicion under two articles of the CCU:

• 368.3 (acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an unlawful benefit by an official);
• 369.3 (offer, promise or provision of undue benefit to an official).

The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. All members of the criminal group will be held to account.

The SSU carried out the operation under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office and with the assistance of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Denys Monastyrskyi.