A court in Finland has found Oleksandr Hanchev, a professor at the Odessa State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications, guilty of illegally extorting money from Ukrainians who worked on Finnish farms, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported.
According to the investigation, Ganchev, who teaches at the university and has a doctorate in historical sciences, has been mediating in the employment of Ukrainian citizens for seasonal work in Finland since the 2000s.
In 2024, it was revealed that he was demanding 60 euros per month from each employee, allegedly “for consulting services.” If they refused to pay, the professor threatened to lose their refugee status.
The Finnish court ruled that such actions were a violation of the law, since the costs of mediation should be covered by employers, not the employees themselves. Thus, the funds received by Ganchev were declared illegal.
During the trial, the professor denied the charges, saying he only collected money for consultations, not for employment. At the same time, he acknowledged that “the line between consultations and employment is indeed blurred.”
Despite the court's decision, Alexander Ganchev has not admitted his guilt and continues to advertise his services on social media. The website of his company A.Ganchev HR Consulting and Recruitment lists about twenty Finnish agricultural enterprises, including strawberry farms, with which he allegedly cooperates.
The official website of the State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications indicates that Ganchev has been working in the field of higher education since 2006. He teaches the disciplines "History of Ukraine and History of Ukrainian Culture", as well as "History of Ukraine and State Formation."
