Wednesday06 November 2024
kriminal-tv.in.ua

Why do prosecutors seek disability benefits, and what lies behind Kostin's resignation? An interview with the former Deputy Attorney General.

Following the scandal in the Khmelnytskyi region, prosecutors with disabilities have become the subject of countless memes. This issue is being addressed at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, the Attorney General has submitted their resignation, and a decision has been made to dissolve the Medical and Social Expert Commission due to its association with corruption. Quite an unprecedented turn of events, wouldn't you agree?
Почему прокуроры нуждаются в инвалидности и что стоит за отставкой Костина? Интервью с бывшим заместителем генпрокурора.
Бывший генпрокурор Андрей Костин, экс-заместитель генпрокурора Николай Голомша, президент Украины Владимир Зеленский (слева направо)

Nikolai Golomsha (born 1962) is a graduate of the Kharkiv Law Institute. After completing his studies, he worked in the prosecutor's office of Lviv, Rivne, and Chernivtsi regions. From 2003 to 2007 and in 2014, he served as the Deputy Attorney General of Ukraine. In 2017, he defended his dissertation and earned the title of Doctor of Philosophy in Public Administration. He is a distinguished lawyer and was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class, in 2009.

Why does a prosecutor need a disability?

Certificates of fake disabilities prevent mobilization. Prosecutors in Ukraine are not threatened by the front lines, as these officials are exempt from mobilization. So why do they even need disabilities?

Are you aware of human mercantilism? Prosecutors, in addition to their salaries, seek to have extra money, and obtaining a disability is an effective way to achieve that. This is because disability pensions are quite substantial payments.

However, prosecutors are entitled to a pension for years of service. Once this is granted, they can legally receive both the pension and their salary. This means they can have additional income without resorting to fake disabilities.

You are overlooking one small detail: a pension for years of service cannot be bought; it must be earned. One has to serve in the prosecutor's office for 25 years, with at least 15 of those years in prosecutorial positions.

Fraudsters do not want to wait that long. They have found a loophole in our legislation. The loophole is this: prosecutors recognized as individuals with disabilities of the first or second group are assigned a disability pension amounting to 60% of their salary (and pay attention!) if they have at least 10 years of service in the prosecutor's office. Do you understand? Just 10 years instead of 25! And you receive the same amount as after a quarter of a century of hard service. All that is left is to find common ground with the MSEC, which is not difficult for fraudsters.

By the way, the second disability group also provides a certain level of social protection for prosecutors. An official with a disability cannot be transferred to another region without their consent, and it is not so easy to dismiss or reduce them; they receive certain benefits from the state, and so on.

Interestingly, the controversial prosecutors from the Khmelnytskyi region also had the second disability group. Why not the first? Were they ashamed?

I think it relates to their caution. The second group allows them to maintain a balance between physical capabilities and professional responsibilities. After all, the disability group indicates that a person has lost part of their working capacity.

A person with a disability should not face discrimination — they cannot be dismissed due to their group. However, management must align the employee's health status with their workload and the nature of the work. Fraudsters in the prosecutor's office need to both obtain a disability pension and retain their positions. They must be just sick enough to allow their physical state to perform their official duties. Hence, the second group.

Interestingly, the prosecutor of the Khmelnytskyi region, Alexey Oleynik (resigned on October 17 at his own request amid the scandal regarding disabilities among prosecutors — ed.) also has a second disability group. I do not know if it is fake or genuine. However, as a former Deputy Attorney General, I can say: it is unlikely that a person with a second group due to health issues can effectively fulfill the responsibilities assigned to a regional prosecutor. This should be monitored by the human resources departments in the prosecutor's office and the internal security structures.

A special commission is needed

At the NSDC meeting, President Zelensky stated that prosecutors obtained fake disabilities”. Did he have the right to indiscriminately call their disabilities fake before conducting a proper investigation? And by the way, can you recall any other NSDC meeting dedicated to fraud in the prosecutor's office or any aspects of its activities?

No, there hasn’t been one. In my opinion, bringing the issue of prosecutorial disabilities to the NSDC meeting is a way to escalate the situation, to exaggerate the problem. This issue does not warrant the NSDC's attention, as it does not pose a threat to the national security of the state.

As for Zelensky, indeed: the president, as a guarantor of citizens' constitutional rights, should not accuse them of violations if those violations are not proven. He displayed excessive emotionality. There is information regarding prosecutors' disabilities. But what leads to the conclusion that all are fake?

The fakeness still needs to be proven. Therefore, the president should have first instructed a fact-checking investigation before making public accusations.

Who should have been given this instruction? Who and how should check prosecutors for disabilities?

It would be advisable to create a commission composed of employees from the Ministry of Social Policy, the Ministry of Health, and the Pension Fund. The commission should operate under the auspices of the General Prosecutor's Office.

Are you joking? You want the prosecutor's office to self-check after the scandal over prosecutors' disabilities has so compromised it?

The prosecutor's office should coordinate the work of the commission members to ensure they do not exceed their authority and that there are no abuses from their side. No one else can do this because the SBU, the SBI, and the National Police are subordinate to the prosecutor's office.

How do you envision the work of such a commission? Are they going to summon every prosecutor with a disability to the MSEC, while it is still operational, or to the structure that will replace it next year?

No. The commission should verify the disability documents. If any documents raise doubts, then their owner should undergo a repeat medical examination.

This will be a sieve with very large holes. I can assume that the doctors who fabricated the certificates knew how to protect themselves and wrote them in such a way that no inspection would find anything suspicious in the documents.

No, believe me: the commission members, the medical professionals involved in such checks and examinations, will work very responsibly and will uncover fakes. Moreover, if the commission's work is initiated by the president — members of such commissions fear each other and are vigilant.

Back in 1993-1994, I organized a group to investigate the abduction of children from Ukraine in the Lviv region. I held the chief physician of the regional clinical hospital criminally responsible. During the investigation, it turned out that he had obtained a second disability group due to hypertension. We established that he provided an electrocardiogram and ultrasound records of a completely different person. So, no matter how carefully the documents are fabricated, a quality check conducted by independent experts will uncover the fraud.

And what should be done with a prosecutor if their disability turns out to be fake?

It depends on their culpability. If it is established that they initiated the forgery of documents, bribed doctors, and that by receiving a pension based on fake disability, they inflicted material damage on the state, they can be held criminally liable.

Бывший генпрокурор Андрей Костин

Why did the president and the attorney general remain silent about the commission?

An impressive conclusion could have been drawn. But did you notice that neither the president nor Attorney General Andrey Kostin said anything about creating such a commission? The president stated literally: “Personnel decisions are needed. There must also be political responsibility for the attorney general regarding the situation in the prosecutor's offices.” And Kostin, after the NSDC meeting, urged prosecutors with disabilities to undergo another examination. He did not clarify under whose supervision this should be done and who would check this new examination.

Any inspection requires a legal basis. A commission for inspection is created within the framework of the relevant criminal proceedings. Only then can a commission be initiated and obligate the suspects to undergo a repeat examination.

The initiation of a criminal proceeding must be initiated by the prosecutor's office. Otherwise, Kostin or anyone else cannot compel anyone to undergo repeat medical examinations.

The issues were discussed at the NSDC — good. Such a commission and such an inspection can be created by a decision of the NSDC.

But none of this exists!

I believe that Andrey Kostin was not prepared for this situation, which is why he could not respond to it. The president reacted emotionally, demonstratively putting everyone “on notice.” Well, a decision was made to eliminate the MSEC — but that does not resolve anything regarding officials with fake disabilities.

Kostin should have announced that the General Prosecutor's Office has registered a criminal proceeding concerning prosecutors' disabilities. Because his statement about re-examination is unprofessional.

What is, in essence, Kostin's fault in the situation with fake disabilities?