The 'Disability' Epidemic Among Officials: Popenko Reveals Pension Fraud Scheme.

Ukraine has a problem with granting disability status to officials under suspicious circumstances. Social policy expert Oleg Popenko shared insights about this issue and its impact on the pension system.

During an interview with political scientist Yuriy Romanenko, Popenko revealed that 67 prosecutors in the Khmelnytskyi region were found to have obtained disability status.

'And this is just the tip of the iceberg,' he stated.

The expert provided examples of some extremely outrageous cases.

'In Western Ukraine, a prosecutor obtained visual disability status yet continues to drive a car and participate in marathons at a distance of 42 kilometers. He was officially recognized as visually impaired but still runs marathons,' he said.

Another example is a deputy head of a department in the Kyiv City State Administration, who unexpectedly received disability status and substantial payments even though he hasn’t yet reached 40 years of age.

'This is a systemic problem. The Pension Fund has been inaccessible for any form of audits for ten years,' Popenko pointed out.

According to the expert, the problem worsens due to family ties in regulatory bodies.

'My son and my father work in the State Audit Office, while my mother works in the Medical and Social Expert Commission, which is responsible for all these disabilities and payments. It is the Pension Fund that is responsible for all of this,' he explained.

Popenko believes it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive audit of the pension system.

'If a proper audit of the Pension Fund is conducted, it will be possible to find funds for payments to those who truly need state support,' he said.

The media disclosed the name of a Ukrainian whose pension is the highest in the country.