How judges and prosecutors, who are supposed to uphold the law, bypass it to get into the pockets of Ukrainians

The scandal surrounding prosecutors who received the status of persons with disabilities has already led to the decision to liquidate medical and social expert commissions (MSEC) and the resignation of the prosecutor general. After internal checks, it turned out that in some regions more than a quarter of prosecutors are persons with disabilities. At least officially.

This status gives them some benefits when hiring or transferring to another place of work, as well as the right to receive considerable pension payments. As Ekonomicheskaya Pravda managed to find out, about 20% of prosecutors indicated in their declarations that they received pension payments. However, as a detailed exploration into this topic has shown, not all of these pensions relate to disability.

According to the Ministry of Social Policy, there are 525 current and former prosecutors in Ukraine receiving disability pensions. Of these, 52 people received this status and the corresponding pension during 2022-2024. That is, the majority of the 6,867 retired prosecutors receive a long-service pension.

According to the law, the prosecutor's pension (both for length of service and in case of disability) should be 60% of his salary, but cannot exceed ten subsistence minimums for persons who have lost their ability to work, that is, UAH 23,610. In practice, prosecutors' pensions reach tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of hryvnias per month. A good “bonus” to your salary, which is not yet taxed.

How did prosecutors manage to circumvent the law and receive exorbitant pensions, and who is abusing the state’s generosity?

Special pensions

To retire, most Ukrainians need to reach retirement age - 60 years, and also have 35 years of work experience, that is, the period during which the employer paid contributions to the Pension Fund for the future pensioner. If these requirements are met, then the person receives the right to a pension, the amount of which is 35-40% of his average salary.

Such conditions apply to most, but not all Ukrainians. Over the years of independence, legislators have created classes of persons whose pension is regulated not by the general law “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”, but by separate, special legislative acts. Such special pensioners can receive payments from the state much earlier than ordinary citizens, and payments for them are much higher than the national average.

For example, the conditions for the retirement of prosecutors are specified in the law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”. According to it, prosecutors become eligible for pension payments after having 25 years of work experience, of which 15 years are in positions in the prosecutor’s office. The law determines that the amount of a prosecutor's pension should be 60% of his salary.

That is, the law allows prosecutors to receive a bonus of 60%, from which they do not have to pay taxes. To do this, you do not need to register a fictitious disability.

However, this generosity has its limits: at one time, legislators amended the prosecutor's law, limiting the maximum possible pension for prosecutors to ten subsistence minimums for persons who have lost their ability to work. In 2024, this is 23,610 UAH per month.

This restriction applies not only to prosecutors, but to all citizens. However, unlike most Ukrainians, prosecutors have learned to effectively circumvent it. A cursory review of their declarations showed that some of them receive pensions that are several times higher than the legal limit.

For example, the head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the field of supervision of criminal proceedings on war crimes, Grigory Ryabenko, indicated in his declaration for 2023 pension payments of more than 1 million UAH (an average of 83.5 thousand UAH per month).

The head of the department of the Kharkov prosecutor's office, Alexander Shevchenko, declared 1.21 million UAH. pension payments (101 thousand UAH), and deputy prosecutor of the Rivne region Valery Patrikey - almost 1.4 million UAH. pensions (116.35 thousand UAH). How do prosecutors manage to receive such payments?

How to get around the law

Judges help prosecutors bypass the pension cap. At the same time, Themis employees not only assign a pension, more than ten subsistence minimums, but also more than the legally established 60% of the salary.

“A significant number of prosecutors and pensioners of law enforcement agencies are challenging even more favorable conditions for calculating pensions through the courts. For example, its calculation is 90% of the salary or wages of a current employee of the relevant body,” the Ministry of Social Policy told the EP.

Moreover, prosecutors demand through the courts that they be granted a pension, even without the required 25 years of work experience, of which at least 15 were in positions in the prosecutor’s office. To understand how they manage to fight for the state's unlimited pensions, it is necessary to review several court decisions on the assignment of pensions.

First, the prosecutor applies to the Pension Fund to be assigned a pension under a special law. Often the Pension Fund refuses such requests, since the prosecutor does not have the necessary length of service.

Having received a refusal, the prosecutor goes to court and demands to list his length of service, as well as calculate his pension, which exceeds 60% of his salary. In his arguments, the plaintiff refers not to the current law “On the Prosecutor’s Office” of 2015, but to the repealed law of 1991. And not to its latest edition, but to the one in force since 2001.

But the version of the old law “On the Prosecutor’s Office” determined completely different rules for the retirement of prosecutors. According to it, prosecutors received this right after having 20 years of work experience, of which only ten were in positions in the prosecutor’s office.

The size of the prosecutor's pension payment was set at 80% of his salary. For each year of work in this position for more than ten years, the pension increased by 2% of the salary, but not more than 90% of the salary. That is, having worked in the prosecutor's office for 15 years or more, a person, according to the old law, could qualify for a pension in the amount of 90% of his salary.

An important point: this version of the inactive law did not establish any restrictions on the maximum allowable pension amount.

The plaintiffs motivate their demand by the fact that at the beginning of their working career (in particular, studying at law faculties in higher educational institutions), different legislation was in force, so they had “legitimate expectations” for pensions in the amount of 80-90% of their salary. At the same time, the Constitution prohibits narrowing the rights of citizens, and the worsening conditions for the retirement of prosecutors is such a narrowing.

As a rule, courts agree with these arguments. Sometimes they simply cancel the pension fund’s decision to assign a pension and oblige the fund to transfer it. However, most often judges themselves describe what the amount of a prosecutor’s pension should be. In particular, this was the case in four cases: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Sometimes prosecutors do not stop at receiving an additional 90% of their salary and go to court whenever their salary increases, so that it obliges the Pension Fund to increase the amount of payment accordingly.

Not the only prosecutors

There are 6,867 retired prosecutors in Ukraine. A significant part of them receive a pension and continue to work in their positions. The ED was able to establish that every fifth prosecutor indicated in his declaration for 2023 that he received a pension from the state. However, this situation is not limited to this category of people.

In addition to prosecutors, judges who help prosecutors receive extra-large payments, former civil servants, law enforcement officers and the military receive special pensions from the state.

Special conditions for retirement are also provided for persons affected by the Chernobyl disaster. In the last few years, the state has faced a flurry of lawsuits in which people are demanding an additional payment to their pension in the amount of two to three minimum wages. As a rule, courts satisfy such requirements by referring to lapsed legislation.

In addition, the state guarantees retirement benefits to those working in enterprises with hazardous working conditions - the so-called lists No. 1 and No. 2. According to the Ministry of Social Policy, every fifth pensioner is entitled to one or another preferential pension. In Ukraine, this figure is several times higher than the corresponding indicators in developed countries.

The size of special pensions is significantly larger than regular ones. The Ministry of Social Policy did not provide the relevant data for October 2024 in response to the EP’s request. However, it is known that at the beginning of 2023, the average prosecutor’s pension was 4.5 times greater than the average pension in Ukraine, and the salary of judges was 21 times.

Such significant payments put pressure on the state budget, which pays for special pensions. Moreover, the volume of these expenses increases from year to year. Thus, in the nine months of 2024, the state spent almost 88 billion UAH on special pensions, which is 20% more than during the same period in 2023 (73.3 billion UAH). By the end of 2024, special pensions will cost the budget about UAH 120 billion.

However, not only the state’s expenses for paying special pensions are growing, but also debts from court decisions on the recalculation of pension payments. Pensioners often ask the court not only to grant them a larger pension, but also to recover from the state funds that they did not receive in previous periods. If at the beginning of 2024 the debt under such court decisions was UAH 66 billion, then in October it increased to UAH 76 billion.

When political will appears, the state is able to solve even those problems that have been turned a blind eye to for decades. This is evidenced by the example of fictitious disabilities issued by MSEC. Will there be political will to review pension privileges for law enforcement officers, security forces and judges?