Even after the dismissal of the Khmelnytsky region prosecutor Alexey Oleinik, the scandal surrounding the pensions received by prosecutors does not subside.
And while the Office of the Prosecutor General promises to conduct an audit of the system as a whole, journalists and the public began to independently analyze the declarations of the heads of prosecutors’ offices in the regions and publish data on those receiving the largest payments. And among them is the head of the Cherkasy regional prosecutor’s office, Ekaterina Shevtsova, who received more than 785 thousand hryvnia in pension last year. It is interesting that it is in this region that criminal proceedings have been under investigation for several years regarding the payment of disability pensions to 70 prosecutors.
The official website of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor's Office notes that 42-year-old Ekaterina Shevtsova has been heading it since October last year. In general, she has been working in the prosecutor’s office since 2004.
According to her declarations posted on the NAPC website, she has been receiving a pension since 2020. Then the amount was 186,627 hryvnia, and last year it was already 785,435 hryvnia. That is, somewhere around 65 thousand per month.
Why such a pension is calculated is not indicated in the declarations. In general, according to the Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, the right to a pension for length of service, regardless of age, is granted to employees of the prosecutor’s office who, on the day of applying for such a pension, have at least 25 years of service, including at least 15 years of work experience as prosecutors.
For employees who do not have 25 years of service, but have worked as prosecutors for at least 15 years and have an insurance period of 35 years for men, 30 years for women, a long-service pension is assigned after men reach 57 years of age, and women - 55 years of age.
Prosecutors recognized as persons with group I or II disabilities are awarded a disability pension in the amount of 60% of their monthly salary, if they have at least 10 years of work experience in the prosecutor's office.
How exactly the pension was calculated in this case is known only to the prosecutor’s office and the Pension Fund.
In the public space, little is known about Ekaterina Shevtsova. But on her Facebook page there are several posts with photos from other people where she is tagged. And judging by them, this year Ms. Prosecutor participated in the “Leadership School for heads of bodies and divisions of the prosecutor’s office,” organized by the Training Center for Prosecutors of Ukraine.
And as prosecutor Yana Talyzina notes, “the training was very interactive: Petros and Hoverla in one day, which was equal to 29 km on foot.” On the same page there is another post about “leadership in the mountains” - prosecutor Ksenia Voronina. And also a photo where next to her is the head of the Cherkasy regional prosecutor’s office, Shevtsova.
Judging by the photo, the young ladies on Mount Petros are at an altitude of 2020 m.
By the way, in the declarations of her deputies, pensions are not indicated as a source of income.
But they are in the declarations of some other prosecutors working in the region. One of them, Andrey Anatolyevich Zamotailo, is the head of the Cherkasy District Prosecutor’s Office. From open sources it is known that he was born in 1984. He began his career in the prosecutor's office in August 2006. Appointed to the position of head of the Cherkasy District Prosecutor's Office in March 2019.
Unlike his colleague from the regional prosecutor's office, the size of his pension is more modest - last year he received, as indicated in the declaration posted on the NAPC website, 251,160 UAH.
Of course, if prosecutors are ready to publicly state on what grounds they receive a pension, we will publish their position. I would also like to get an answer to the question of what is the fate of 70 Cherkasy prosecutors, whose receipt of disability pensions since 2020 is being investigated by the Territorial Department of the DBR, located in Kyiv. Are they suspended from work or continue to perform their duties?
Let us remind you that this criminal proceeding was opened based on materials from the internal security department of the General Inspectorate of the Office of the Prosecutor General regarding possible facts of unfounded diagnosis of a disease and the corresponding disability group for employees of the prosecutor's office of the Cherkasy region, which subsequently led to the groundless accrual of pension payments and causing severe consequences to state interests in signs of criminal offenses provided for in Part 2 of Art. 364, part 2 art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
During the pre-trial investigation, the circumstances are verified that as of May 26, 2020, the prosecutor’s office of the Cherkasy region employs 70 prosecutorial employees who were diagnosed with disabilities during the period from December 4, 2008 to April 15, 2020.
This is stated in the decision of the Sosnovsky District Court of the Cherkasy region.
Another of the court rulings, which extended the terms of the pre-trial investigation, speaks of a complex of investigative (search) and other procedural actions necessary to establish the factual circumstances of a criminal offense and confirm the guilt of those involved in its commission. In particular, the investigation examined certified copies of medical expert files and other documents on the specified 70 people seized from the Cherkasy Regional Center of MSE ChOR.
It was also planned to conduct temporary access to things and documents in medical institutions, tax and pension services, prosecutors, etc., interrogate witnesses from among employees of medical institutions, MSEC and others, as well as send relevant materials and initiate inspections, examinations of the legality of receipt disability groups.
Based on the results of their conduct, the issue of informing the guilty persons of suspicion, separating materials on individuals, etc. should have been decided.
As it became known, the investigation continues, but no suspicions have yet been brought against anyone. Perhaps not the least role in this was played by the fact that there is no mechanism yet that would allow prosecutors receiving a disability pension assigned for life to undergo another MSEC test. But examinations to confirm the diagnosis must be ordered in order to draw further conclusions. Including the removal of prosecutors from positions specifically within the framework of criminal investigations.
Commenting at one time on the scandalous case of prosecutor Verbitsky, Prosecutor General Kostin explained that the law “On the Prosecutor’s Office” does not provide for the possibility of removing a prosecutor at the stage of an official investigation.
In general, when talking with lawyers about the scandalous story associated with the payment of disability pensions to prosecutors in the Khmelnitsky region, which forced society to so meticulously study the declarations of prosecutors, looking for pensions, I heard from several of them the opinion that really no one can force a single the prosecutor must undergo MSEC. Unless one of them is released, loses his reservation from mobilization, and then the TCC can send this person to undergo the VLK.
Lawyers have divided opinions regarding the further official investigation appointed by the Prosecutor General. Some of my interlocutors believe that criminal proceedings should be opened and appropriate procedural actions should be carried out.
“There is Article 214 in the Criminal Procedure Code, which gives grounds to immediately, after reporting a criminal offense committed or after the prosecutor independently identifies from any source circumstances that may indicate the commission of a criminal offense, to enter the relevant information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations, information about prosecutors of the Khmelnitsky Regional Prosecutor's Office, it was necessary to open criminal proceedings, and not conduct an official investigation, - believes Chairman of the Board of the non-governmental expert organization StateWatch Alexander Lemenov, who is systematically involved in the reform of criminal justice bodies, including the prosecutor’s office, which society is now asking prosecutors receiving disability pensions to create a new medical and social expert commission for them to pass. But the Prosecutor General can address them publicly and invite them to undergo a voluntary audit. Those heads of prosecutor's offices who do not want to do this, in my opinion, should write a letter of resignation. The public must trust prosecutors, especially during war.
Lawyer Sergei Lysenko, who worked in the prosecutor’s office for many years, also speaks about the need to open criminal proceedings, and adds that the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Health could create an interdepartmental commission, which would be sent for a comprehensive check, first to the Khmelnitsky region. “From the publications that we have seen in recent days in the media, there is doubt that when you take a position in the regional prosecutor’s office, your social package includes the option that you can apply for a disability pension. It’s trash,” he says.
And former Deputy Prosecutor General Alexey Baganets, who worked in the system for 35 years, believes that criminal proceedings should be opened when, during an internal investigation, it is reliably established that a disability was assigned to one of the prosecutors in violation of the requirements of the law. “For example, an independent examination commission will be conducted to determine that the diagnosis made for registration of disability does not correspond to reality,” he explains. “Then questions arise: on the basis of what the disability was assigned, whether the prosecutor himself participated in this by providing deliberately false medical documents. Because if it is established during an internal investigation that the payments were illegal, then of course, in addition to a disciplinary offense, there will be signs of a criminal offense,” he noted.
According to him, pensions can be paid to working prosecutors based on length of service, so it is important to establish the grounds on which they were assigned. In his opinion, all this should be investigated during an internal investigation.
In turn, lawyer Oleg Shram, who also previously worked in the prosecutor’s office, emphasizes that prosecutors must choose whether to receive a pension or salary, which they have are quite high. Then there would be no manipulation. But for this the legislation needs to be changed.
People's deputies have not yet commented on this topic, but as it became known, next week during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement Activities it is planned to discuss the issue of sending an appeal to all law enforcement agencies to find out how many disability payments are made there and on what grounds .
