The system of higher education in Ukraine came under the attack of corruption schemes due to the disclosure of scandalous cases of fictitious employees in one of Kharkiv universities. According to the investigation carried out by law enforcement agencies, for 11 years, salaries and bonuses were paid to "dead souls" - persons who did not actually work at the university.
In 2012, one of the suspects, who at that time held the position of the university's vice-rector for scientific and pedagogical work, maintained friendly relations with the director of a local firm that had been performing contract repair work for the university for a long time. The vice-rector offered the director of the company to appoint fictitious employees of the university, who were not supposed to be at the workplaces and follow the instructions according to the positions they held. The head of the company agreed and involved in the implementation of the execution plan, which helped to find fictitious employees.
From 2012 to 2023, the university employed nine people as premises maintenance workers, among whom were relatives and acquaintances of the organizers of the illegal installation. They were not at work and did not perform functional duties, but they were charged monthly wages and bonuses. In the future, the accused withdrew the accrued amounts from the salary bank cards of the fictitious employees of the higher education institution and appropriated this money.
The total amount of unreasonably accrued and paid wages and bonuses is about UAH 14.3 million.
The surnames of the victims and the name of the university are not disclosed.
