Head of Regional Boxing Federation Suspected of Organizing Schemes for Draft Dodgers

The National Police of Ukraine, through its Department of Strategic Investigations, has released information regarding the suspicion of the head of the regional boxing federation. According to the investigation, this individual organized a criminal scheme that enabled draft dodgers to receive fictitious deferments from mobilization and to leave the country without hindrance. Reports indicate that at least 40 individuals have availed themselves of the services provided by this criminal group, which directly impacts the country's defense capabilities.

The investigation has determined that this scheme was orchestrated by a well-known figure in criminal circles from Odesa, originally hailing from Luhansk. Not only does he lead the regional boxing federation, but he also involved representatives from a controlled company, as well as residents from Odesa, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Ternopil. Law enforcement officials reported that members of the group were fictitiously employing conscripts at a company that had quotas for deferments, as it operated in the construction sector.

According to data, clients received deferments from mobilization and the opportunity to travel abroad for a certain fee. The cost for “booking” was up to $8,000, while the arrangement of “business trips” cost around $10,000. Additionally, for $15,000, group members offered to organize illegal transportation of individuals across the state border outside of official checkpoints. Furthermore, from the “booked” clients, a monthly fee of 10,000 hryvnias was charged for the so-called “service” of the scheme, which was then distributed among the members of the criminal group.

Operatives from the Department of Strategic Investigations, in collaboration with investigators from Kyiv police, conducted a large-scale special operation during which more than 50 searches were carried out in Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, and the Kyiv region. As a result of these searches, law enforcement officers seized cash in various currencies totaling over 5 million hryvnias, computer equipment, documentation, company seals, as well as mobile phones, bank cards, and vehicles, including Lexus, Porsche Macan, BMW X5, and Mercedes-Benz cars.

Thanks to the forceful support from the Special Operations Department and special police units, the organizers and active participants of the group were detained. Currently, four individuals have been informed of their suspicions based on their roles in the criminal activity, under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, including illegal transportation of individuals across the state border and obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The court has chosen preventive measures: two of the suspects have been ordered to be held in custody without the right to bail, while the other two have been ordered to be held in custody with the possibility of bail set at 2.6 million hryvnias each. The maximum penalty for the charges could reach up to nine years of imprisonment.

Law enforcement officials are also continuing to identify accomplices of the suspects at the enterprise where the conscripts were fictitiously employed. The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators from the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv, under the operational support of the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police of Ukraine and under the procedural guidance of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office.

It is worth noting that earlier, employees of the State Bureau of Investigations uncovered and halted the activities of a group of individuals who organized a scheme to evade mobilization and misappropriate budget funds at one of the state universities in Kyiv.