This was reported by Serhii Bolvinov, head of the Investigation Department of the General Directorate of the National Police in the Kharkiv region, during a interview with Ukrinform.

“We are currently reviewing at least 200 homes registered under this program. “I am not saying that all 200 cases involve illegal actions, but we have certain information that some houses were not damaged by the shelling, and yet people received compensation,” Bolvinov said.

According to Bolvinov, the main character in the fraud scheme is the head of the commission. Working with others, they allegedly made the houses look like they had been damaged by bombing. The commission would then visit the site, conduct a so-called inspection, hold meetings and decide that the property qualified for compensation under the program, determining the amount of compensation.

“According to the approved procedure, the evaluation of properties and the amounts of compensation are carried out by commissions established within the communities. In our case, the head of the commission was a former deputy director of the administration. Naturally, I cannot name him or others involved as guilty; That will be decided by the court. I can only convey what the investigation has uncovered: how the properties were selected and manipulated. Some properties were intentionally damaged, such as roof removal. There is one house that we are still not sure how it was destroyed, but our bomb disposal experts confirm that it was definitely not damaged by an explosion. However, the owner received a certificate worth 1.5 million hryvnias,” Bolvinov explained.

To convert the certificate into cash, one of the suspects allegedly used his wife’s grandmother, a homeowner. A fictitious sales agreement was reached that allowed the funds to be transferred to the grandmother’s account, which effectively meant the suspect’s wife had access to them. These funds were then converted into cash and one of the suspects reportedly purchased a car. This is just one completed episode and there is evidence that they were planning to repeat the plan.

During the searches, authorities confiscated several items, including cell phones, from the suspects.

“I will share a fact that may be annoying to many; It certainly was for me. During the searches, we confiscated the suspects’ mobile phones. The alleged organizer and his accomplices had a group chat. Do you know what they called it? ‘The Kings of Izium’. They considered themselves “kings.” But many more people are involved in the scheme, including private businessmen who carried out expert reports, notaries who registered properties, who converted funds into cash and people who submitted false claims for compensation,” Bolvinov added.

In August, police in Izium exposed a scheme involving falsified data in the eVidnovlennia program to receive state compensation for properties that were not actually damaged by the bombings. Searches were carried out in the offices of Izium military administration officials, experts and the local administrative services center (CNAP).

The first suspects in this case were officially charged in early November.