Ukraine health minister held over alleged bribery scheme

KIEV: Ukraine’s security service said on Friday it had arrested the deputy health minister for allegedly running a bribery scheme that saw patients pay extra money for operations and other essential treatment.

Deputy Health Minister Roman Vasylyshyn becomes the most prominent figure detained since the appointment of a new government in April in the wake of a graft scandal.

Critics argue that the former Soviet republic has been running a losing battling against embezzlement and bribe-taking by both politicians and oligarchs with close ties to senior cabinet figures and even the presidential administration.

“We were shocked by what the deputy health minister was doing," Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) chief Vasyl Grutsak told reporters.

Grutsak said doctors at one Kiev state-funded hospital “collected money from sick patients for operations."

Those funds were then allegedly transferred directly to the deputy health minister.

“In all, during his detention and as a result of searches, we confiscated more than $50,000 and 320,000 hryvnias", Grutsak said.

Vasylyshyn faces a jail term of eight to 12 years if convicted.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Vasylyshyn’s arrest showed his government’s resolve to combat such crimes.

“I would like to stress that not a single corrupt official will be able to avoid prosecution," Groysman wrote on Facebook.

Kiev has been under intense pressure from its Western allies and big lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to wipe out embezzlement and insider dealings that have seen vast sums drained from the budget at the people’s expense.