KYIV: Ukraine said Tuesday that it had detained a senior military medical official suspected of failing to disclose around $1 million in unaccounted-for earnings accumulated since the beginning of Russia's invasion.
The inquiry is the latest in a fledging campaign spearheaded by Kyiv to stamp out systematic fraud and roll out reforms as part of efforts to get membership in institutions like the European Union.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it had detained the army's chief psychiatrist, who also sits on a commission that decides whether individuals are eligible for military service.
"This official acquired unjustified assets worth over $1 million during the full-scale invasion" launched by the Kremlin in February 2022, the SBU said in a statement.
It said the official had failed to disclose properties registered under the names of his immediate family members.
The statement read that the official owned two apartments in the capital Kyiv and another in the southern city of Odesa, as well as plots of land outside Kyiv and four luxury cars.
The SBU said that investigators had found $152,000 and 34,000 euros in cash during raids linked to the probe, and that the suspect faces up to 10 years behind bars on various charges including illicit enrichment and filing false declarations.
Ukrainian anti-corruption efforts have recently centred on medical commissions that decide whether military-aged men are fit for service.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year ended the system, citing large-scale problems with corruption, as part of efforts to overhaul the procedures by which Ukrainian men are mobilised.
Last year, the prosecutor general offered his resignation after it was found that officials serving his office nationwide had paid for medical exemptions allowing them to avoid military service.
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