Another illicit enrichment(History repeats itself)

There is no other country in the world where the magic words ’… detained on charges of illicit enrichment ….’ are so often heard.

Yes, yes, this is about Ukraine where, this time, the chief psychiatrist of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been detained with illegal enrichment. It should be noted that despite the fact that the case was covered in detail by the BBC on its website and it was briefly mentioned in the

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained the chief psychiatrist of the Armed Forces over suspected illicit enrichment in the amount of over $1 million accrued since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. Though the SBU did not name the suspect, it is about Oleh Druz who works as chief military psychiatrist. In addition to the job of chief psychiatrist, he also serves as the deputy head of the central medical commission that determines the suitability of potential recruits for military service.

According to charges, the chief military psychiatrist has acquired substantial undeclared assets since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, including a house in Kyiv Region, apartments in Kyiv and Odesa, luxury cars (several BMWs), and plots of land. During searches, SBU investigators found $152,000 and €34,000 in cash. Druz did not declare the above property – all these parts of wealth were registered in the name of his wife, daughter, sons, and other third parties. He now faces ten years behind bars for alleged charges of illegal enrichment and making a false tax declaration.

Druz was implicated in a similar case in 2017 which saw him fail to declare two SUVs and a number of other properties, leading him to be suspended, the BBC says in its report. Ukraine’s chief army psychiatrist arrested on $1m corruption charge Interestingly, this reference is completely absent from reports in the Ukrainian media on this case.

How can this happen if Kyiv actually is determined to tackle corruption? How can this happen in a war-torn country where ordinary Ukrainians serve in the army and die on the frontline while their property, including their homes and cars and other belongings, is being destroyed as a result of Russian attacks? How could such a large-scale case in the military be left unnoticed for years? How could this psychiatrist continue working at the Armed Forces after his corruption case in 2017? If such massive corruption cases repeat themselves in Ukraine, how does the country meet the basic criteria for EU membership?