In Zaporizhia, a university rector was exposed for enrolling men in graduate school for money
Security Service and National Police exposed the rector of a private university in Zaporizhzhia and his subordinates, who enrolled conscripted men into postgraduate studies for bribes.
As a result of the measures carried out in the front-line city, the rector of a private university was exposed, who, for bribes, registered conscripted men for postgraduate studies at the educational institution. Together with him, eight of his subordinates were exposed, including deputies and management of institutes of this university, who acted as part of a criminal organization.
The investigation established that only from the end of 2023 to the middle of 2024, the persons involved received more than 50 million hryvnias from conscripted men. The rectorate enrolled men of draft age for full-time education without passing entrance exams and without further attending classes.
In total, 2,966 conscripts who used mock training to get a deferment from the draft took advantage of this scheme. The cost of such registration was up to 5 thousand US dollars in cash from each client. After receiving the documents, the “graduate students” additionally paid almost 20,000 hryvnias to the university’s accounts for two semesters.
The organizers of the event withdrew these funds from the school’s account and distributed them among themselves. Based on the collected evidence, the rector and his subordinates were notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: creation and participation in a criminal organization, bribery of an official of a legal entity of private law, unauthorized actions with information in automated systems, as well as evasion of the draft during mobilization.
Currently, the issue of choosing preventive measures is being resolved. The extras face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
