Officer’s 2.4 million scheme: payments for fake fights

In the Sumy region, a major of a military unit was suspected of abusing authority, which led to serious consequences. The Sumy Specialized Prosecutor’s Office reported this in the field of defense of the Central region.

The investigation revealed that the head of the administrative group at the headquarters had organized a scheme to receive monetary rewards illegally. He knew that six of his subordinates did not participate in hostilities in the Kharkiv region but were actually in Sumy.

Despite this, the officer prepared documents that falsely stated that the service members were performing combat missions in the conflict zone. Based on these false reports, orders were issued at the headquarters, according to which subordinates were paid an additional remuneration of 70 to 100 thousand hryvnias every month.

Between October and December 2024, a portion of the funds received was allocated to the major. According to experts, the total losses exceed 2.4 million hryvnias.

The suspect was taken into custody, and his removal from office was initiated. The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Poltava territorial department of the State Bureau of Investigation with the support of the SBU in the Sumy region and the military counterintelligence of the SBU.