The Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office has uncovered the head of a central government authority and the head of a regional level who organized a scheme for extorting money from subordinates.

According to the investigation, they demanded money from employees every month for increasing bonuses, and in case of refusal, threatened with unjustified reductions.

Since the institution has a wide network of branches, they involved five more heads of district departments in implementing the scheme. They were to identify among their subordinates those who would agree to give up part of their bonus under the threat of its reduction.

The head of the regional branch was directly responsible for collecting and accumulating the funds. He kept part of the money for himself and sent the rest to his superior in Kyiv. For the sake of concealment, the money was disguised in boxes of coffee with the logo "Coffee from Lviv".

It has been documented that in just a few months, the officials received over 75 thousand hryvnias from their subordinates.

The heads of the institution have been informed of the suspicions against them. They are charged under part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - accepting an offer, promise, or receiving unlawful benefits by a public official.

The five district department heads involved have been charged with aiding and abetting the commission of a crime (part 5 of Article 27, part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The issue of choosing preventive measures for the suspects is being resolved.

Investigative actions are ongoing, and other individuals involved in the illegal activities are being identified.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Territorial Administration of the State Bureau of Investigation in Lviv, under the procedural guidance of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office, with operational support from the Strategic Investigations Department in the Lviv region of the National Police of Ukraine.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.