Seven Zakarpattia TCC staff to face trial over fake mobilisation of 329 people

A court in Zakarpattia Oblast is set to hear the case against seven former and current employees of one of the district territorial centres for recruitment and social support. They are accused of participating in a scheme that resulted in fabricated records of 329 citizens being conscripted into military service being entered into the state information database "Obereg".

How the data forgery scheme worked

According to the investigation, the management of the said TCC and SP attempted to artificially inflate the performance indicators for mobilisation tasks. To this end, officials used their qualified electronic signatures to record the conscription of individuals who were not actually mobilised.

The investigation established that data on 162 fictitiously conscripted individuals was entered into the database using the electronic signature of the centre's head. A further 108 records of liable persons appeared in the system thanks to the signature of the deputy head.

Perpetrators and the scale of the damage

After the exposure of the two main figures, law enforcement continued their work and identified other accomplices. These turned out to be operators of the mobilisation department and employees of the reserve officers' accounting group. According to the case materials, these individuals may have entered similar false information regarding a further 59 liable persons.

Thus, the total number of individuals regarding whom signs of fictitious conscription have been established reached 329. Such actions could create a distorted picture of the performance of tasks by a specific territorial centre, as these individuals could appear in the information system as conscripted, even though no actual mobilisation took place.

Status of the investigation

The pre-trial investigation is now complete. The indictment against all seven defendants — the former head of the TCC and SP, his deputy, and five other employees — has been sent to court. The court must establish their guilt and determine the sentence.

It should be noted that the referral of an indictment to court is not grounds for finding individuals guilty. In accordance with the principle of the presumption of innocence, they are considered innocent until their guilt is proven in the manner established by law and confirmed by a guilty verdict.