Cherkasy region is the leader among prosecutors with disabilities

Cherkasy region is the leader among prosecutors with disabilities

Cherkasy region is one of the first in terms of the number of people with disabilities among prosecutors.

If only 6% of employees have such status in the Office of the Attorney General, then in Cherkasy this figure is 4.5 times higher.

Prosecutorial disability: how they obtained huge pensions through the courts

In Ukraine, an abnormal number of prosecutors with disabilities were found in two regions. We are talking about Khmelnytskyi (29% of prosecutors have disabilities) and Cherkasy (27% with disabilities) regions. Here, there are three times more people with disabilities than in prosecutors’ offices in other regions. And all of them retired using special rights for people with disabilities.

The Medical and Social Expert Commissions (MSEC) in these regions, by a strange coincidence, granted disability status precisely to those prosecutors who did not yet have the necessary length of service for a prosecutor’s pension. The "Prosecutor’s Office" law allows receiving a high prosecutor’s pension with only 10 years of service if there is a disability. Across the country, 525 prosecutors receive tens of thousands of hryvnias in pension using disability status and continue to work.

The former head of the Khmelnytskyi MSEC, Tetyana Krupa, is under arrest, while the Cherkasy MSEC managed to avoid a corruption scandal. It is important to note that among the prosecutors with disabilities, there are also those who genuinely have health problems. However, the situation where prosecutors use arranged disabilities, continue to work fully, and obtain large pensions through courts, raises many questions about the fairness of the current system.

The media analyzed the declarations of dozens of Cherkasy prosecutors and found those who used the conclusion obtained from the MSEC to retire early with a high prosecutor’s pension. For example, Volodymyr Zubenko, head of the department representing the state’s interests in court of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office, received an average monthly salary of 112.7 thousand UAH and a pension of 39.6 thousand UAH last year.

Although this is a small pension by prosecutorial standards, it is significantly more than what any retiree can receive. The thing is, the maximum pension is currently limited to 10 subsistence minimums (23.6 thousand UAH). Prosecutors remove this restriction through the courts.

The prosecutor has been suing the Pension Fund since at least 2016. According to the case materials No. 712/7210/16-a, Volodymyr Zubenko arranged his disability pension (and the disability itself) back in 2009. Immediately, he switched from a low disability pension to a high prosecutor’s pension (80% of the salary). In 2016, he demanded a recalculation through the court. At that time, he had only 17 years and almost 3 months of service. That is, in 2009, when he received the status of a person with a disability, he had only 10 years of service.

Interestingly, exactly 10 years of service is needed to receive a high prosecutor’s pension if you have a disability. Without disability status, 25 years of service is required. So, as soon as Zubenko reached 10 years of service, he arranged a disability status and began receiving tens of thousands of hryvnias from the Pension Fund.

Andriy Zamotaylo, head of the Cherkasy local prosecutor’s office, declared a monthly pension of 20.9 thousand UAH last year (he has not yet removed the limitation through the court). According to the case materials 580/652/19 (an administrative case with his lawsuit against the Pension Fund), Zamotaylo started working in 2006. And in 2017, having 10 years of service, he switched from a disability pension to a prosecutor’s pension.

"Part 9 of Article 86 of Law No. 1697-VII provides that prosecutors recognized as persons with disabilities of group I or II are granted a disability pension in amounts provided for by the second part of this article, provided that they have at least 10 years of service in the prosecution bodies," according to the case materials. The pension is set at 60% of the monthly wage.

These are just two Cherkasy prosecutors who, thanks to their disability status, obtained tens of thousands of hryvnias in pensions. It is actually a widespread practice. And interestingly, it is used primarily by young prosecutors: as soon as they reach 10 years of service and just a few years after their 30th birthday, they switch to high pensions.

Cherkasy MSEC head and her retired husband from the SSU

In recent years, the Cherkasy MSEC has been headed by Nataliya Masenko. Her first declaration appeared on the NAPC website on March 16, 2021. She reported for the previous year, 2020. Nataliya Masenko, together with her husband Oleksandr Synyohub, was already receiving a pension at that time. Her monthly salary at the MSEC was 28.5 thousand UAH (after taxes), and she was also receiving a pension of 4.3 thousand UAH. Her husband, a pensioner, received 12.7 thousand UAH from the Pension Fund monthly.

Already in 2021, Oleksandr Synyohub opened an individual entrepreneur (providing rental property services). The couple has enough property to earn from rent. Nataliya Masenko owns two apartments in Cherkasy, a land plot in Moshny (Cherkasy region), and an apartment in Smila, while her husband owns two land plots in the village of Mala Smilyanka and a residential building with an area of 187.7 square meters in Mala Smilyanka.

Oleksandr Synyohub also has experience with lawsuits for a higher pension, although without the disability scheme. The husband of the MSEC head worked in the SSU, so now he demands "to recognize the actions of the Pension Fund to limit, from 01.04.2019, the size of the pension to ten subsistence minimums established for individuals who lost their ability to work" as unlawful.

Synyohub and Masenko live in a house of almost 188 square meters near Cherkasy, in the village of Mala Smilyanka. Journalists managed to find this building: it’s a two-story spacious house with a well-maintained area. They acquired it even before the MSEC head’s husband opened an individual entrepreneur. Thus, the couple, receiving salaries from the budget, managed to acquire a spacious house.