MSEC and "Vinnytsia Disability Factory": interdependence and mutual responsibility

MSEC and "Vinnytsia Disability Factory": interdependence and mutual responsibility

The Regional MSEC in Vinnytsia has been creating a system of circular dependence for years, based on distributing disability groups to officials.

This is stated in an investigation by the publication "Glavkom".

On December 19, the Verkhovna Rada voted for the liquidation of the medical-social expert commissions system (notorious MSECs). This fateful decision was preceded by a mega-scandal involving the head of MSEC Khmelnytskyi, Tetyana Krupa. In the apartment of the official, law enforcement found kilograms of cash, the total "weight" of which reached about 134 million UAH. Only after this did the government finally give an unsatisfactory diagnosis: "The medical-social expertise system in Ukraine is outdated and does not meet modern challenges and approaches to establishing disability." So, from the beginning of next year, MSECs are to be replaced by 1,348 expert teams throughout Ukraine.

Feeling the impending changes, local authorities began to act in advance. Some regions, including Chernihiv, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, took the path of liquidation - termination of the legal entity MSEC. At the same time, some regions decided not to cut live and attached MSEC to other communal institutions. This path was chosen by the Vinnytsia Regional Council, which is the founder of the Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise.

An important remark. The Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise has a significant feature: unlike similar institutions in other regions, this institution, according to the data of the Unified State Register, is state-owned, and according to its statute belongs to the jurisdiction of the regional council. Such dual authority has been creating tension between the leadership of the Vinnytsia Regional Council and the Vinnytsia Regional State Administration for years.

"Glavkom" was concerned with the work of the Vinnytsia MSEC for two reasons. Firstly, the Ministry of Health of all MSECs in Ukraine chose experts in the direction of "Medical and Social Expertise" only two people: the already well-known Tetyana Krupa from Khmelnytskyi and Yuliya Danylenko, who heads the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise, as well as heads the regional MSEC No. 1. Such trust from Kyiv and the Ministry of Health to these medics can now be assessed differently…

Secondly, after a series of "Glavkom" publications about Tetyana Krupa and the "disability factory" in Khmelnytskyi, medical workers from Vinnytsia began to contact the editorial office. They complained about the abuses of local regional MSEC officials during the issuance of disability groups.

Medical cooperation

Thus, understanding that things smelled roasted, Vinnytsia authorities began to act in advance. Without waiting for a decision from Kyiv, the region decided to "dissolve" the regional center for medical and social expertise by attaching it to the communal institution "Information and Analytical Center of Medical Statistics of Vinnytsia Region."

The reorganization process was not easy. It was opposed by the health care and social protection commission of the regional council.

"The project was poorly prepared and contained several errors. The deputies were forced to return it for revision. The unprofessional preparation of the draft decision by the Department of Health and Rehabilitation of the Regional State Administration endangers the implementation of state policy in the system of MSEC reforming in Vinnytsia," - stated in the official message.

The issue of the liquidation of the Vinnytsia MSEC disappeared from the agenda of the regional council session for a couple of weeks. And only three days before the session was it included for consideration and then supported. Practically without any significant amendments compared to the version criticized by the deputy commission.

After the session decision, the head of the regional center for medical and social expertise, Yulia Danylenko, should be dismissed. Earlier, "Glavkom" wrote about this medic: she is an official millionaire and is among the top three wealthiest heads of regional MSECs in the country. In addition to the position of head of the regional MSEC, which she has held since December 2022, Danylenko is also the head of regional MSEC No. 1.

Through this structure passed a large number of people with a certain status and influence. And now the key detail: she has been in this position without change since April 2014! She was appointed there by the former head of the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise and current therapist at the regional MSEC, Viktor Vlasyuk. And here begins the story known but silent throughout the entire medical community of the region…

Despite the fact that medic Viktor Vlasyuk currently holds a regular position, in reality, he still maintains colossal influence over the healthcare system of Vinnytsia region. Firstly, his domain is the direction of MSEC. This is confirmed to "Glavkom" by all the informed sources with whom the editorial staff spoke. Two of them agreed to speak about it openly on tape.

Owner of Tesla and a dozen apartments

At the beginning of the 2000s, the then-deputy chief doctor of the Vinnytsia district hospital, Viktor Vlasyuk, received a rapid promotion: he became the chief doctor of the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise. In fact, Vlasyuk inherited the position: he replaced his father Vasiliy Vlasyuk. The career of the young official – "chief on disability issues" of Vinnytsia region lasted until the events of the Revolution of Dignity began in the country.

Events that took place in 2014-2015 around the Vinnytsia Regional Center for MSEC revealed the organized actions of certain individuals with power to keep former head of regional MSEC Viktor Vlasyuk in position. Residents of our region knew and know that MSECs were and are corrupt. Even then-Minister of Health Oleh Musiy, being in Vinnytsia in 2014, stated that he received complaints that Vinnytsia MSEC doctors were demanding bribes," recalled the head of the Vinnytsia Regional Council in 2014-2015, Serhiy Svitko, in a conversation with "Glavkom".

According to the ex-chairman of the regional council, in the spring of 2014, contracts ended with Vlasyuk and 30 other chief doctors of regional medical institutions. The new government after Euromaidan launched open competitions with the participation of the public. The labor collective of the Vinnytsia Regional MSEC nominated Viktor Vlasyuk for the position of chief doctor again, but public representatives did not support him. As a result, Svitko issued an order appointing Valentyn Fishchuk, who previously headed the Department of Health of the Vinnytsia City Council and worked as the chief doctor of the city emergency medical station.

Disability. Circular connection

In a conversation with "Glavkom," the chief doctor of the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise in 2014-2015, Valentyn Fishchuk, admits: he understood the specifics of this medical institution well.

"Disability groups were registered for the employees and leadership of the Vinnytsia Regional Council and Vinnytsia Regional State Administration, who worked at different times. This process was orchestrated by Viktor Vlasyuk. It reached absurdity: the then-deputy head of the regional council, whom the head of the regional council, Serhiy Svitko, instructed to introduce me to the MSEC collective, refused to do it. As it turned out later, she had a disability group issued by Vlasyuk," Fishchuk describes the intricacies in the corridors of power in Vinnytsia.

The interlocutor of "Glavkom" explained: during his tenure, he was practically isolated from internal processes by the employees themselves, appointed during Vlasyuk’s time. The climax of this absurdity was the appearance of a document from the Ministry of Health dated January 2015.

"Officials from the Department of Health of the Regional State Administration arrived at my office, quoting a letter from the Ministry of Health: the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise lost its status as a communal agency and is now a state institution, and Viktor Vlasyuk was appointed chief doctor (a corresponding entry also appeared in the Unified State Register – "Glavkom"). As soon as they left the office, Viktor Vlasyuk with MSEC employees burst in. They had a big box in which they began to put everything that lay on my desk. ’You are no longer the chief doctor,’ Vlasyuk addressed me. It was a stressful situation with a positive emotion: I was glad that I managed to escape from the hornet’s nest," Fishchuk recalled.

In the summer of 2015, the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Medical and Social Expertise was headed by new chief Ihor Kostenko. At the same time, Viktor Vlasyuk, losing the leading position, remained an ordinary member of the MSEC and began rapidly acquiring immovable property. Starting from 2015, he acquired: nine land plots with a total area of 1.16 hectares; 10 apartments with a total area of 825.3 sqm; four houses and two non-residential premises.

A month before the great war, in January 2022, Viktor Vlasyuk acquired a Tesla electric car, model year 2020, for 1.3 million UAH.

And so, at the end of November 2024, Vlasyuk began to sue the institution headed by his protégé Danylenko. The plaintiff argued in court that he had under-received 105 thousand UAH in wages, starting from January 2022. Notably, the defendant in the person of Yuliya Danylenko did not defend the interests of the body she headed, declaring that she relied on Femida’s discretion to resolve the financial dispute.

On December 10, Viktor Vlasyuk won the court case. Femida ordered the regional center for medical and social expertise to recalculate and pay the plaintiff the unpaid salary considering the time actually worked (referring to those 105 thousand UAH).

Earnings on Conscripts?

While Mr. Vlasyuk savors victory in court, Ms. Yuliya Danylenko is fending off prosecution. As "Glavkom" found out from the court register, Vinnytsia’s SBU has been conducting a pre-trial investigation for a second year for obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations (part of article 114-1 of the Criminal Code).

According to the investigation, the head of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Policy of the Vinnytsia Regional Council, Lyudmyla Hrabovych, in a preliminary agreement with the head of the regional medical and social expert commission No. 1, Yuliya Danylenko, "illegally organized for money the issuance of illegal positive conclusions of MSEC for conscripts, including medical workers and officials of health care institutions in Vinnytsia region, to obtain postponement from military service during mobilization and travel abroad."

According to pre-trial investigation materials, intermediaries were involved in the scheme seeking those willing to pay for disability group registration.

As informed sources told "Glavkom," several searches took place in August this year among medical workers of Vinnytsia’s MSEC. The editorial team was also informed about the seizure of medical documents during the searches by Danylenko herself in response to an inquiry.

As of the end of December, there is no official information about declarations of suspicion to potentially involved officials. However, it is known that in June, Lyudmila Hrabovych lost her position.

"Sunny" business for two

But it’s not only the issuance of disability groups that unites the medical tandem of Vlasyuk-Danylenko. This couple also has a common business. In 2019, they founded and became the ultimate beneficiaries of LLC "Solar Farmers," which specializes in electricity production.

The company’s legal address is Kyiv, Pushkinska Street, 28/9, Apartment 24. Several companies of Vlasyuk’s sons Vitaliy and Vladyslav are registered here. Currently, both are respectable state men: Vitaliy Vlasyuk works as the deputy head of Khmelnytskyi Regional State Administration, and Vladyslav Vlasyuk is a member of the Supervisory Board of the state "Sens Bank" and a presidential advisor on sanctions policy issues.

For 2023, the net income from sales of products (goods, works, services) of LLC "Solar Farmers" amounted to 3.37 million UAH, almost 1 million UAH more than in 2022. Last year, "energy" income also appeared in the declarations of Vlasyuk and Danylenko. In particular, Viktor Vlasyuk declared 1.16 million UAH received from LLC "Enera Vinnytsia." Yuliya Danylenko earned 662.2 thousand UAH in income from the same company.

According to analytical system YouControl, "Enera Vinnytsia" is part of the "Energy Standard" group controlled by Russian-Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin. The company is engaged in electricity trading.

It is worth adding that solar energy is the "calling card" of many odious MSEC employees. It is known that the family of the head of MSEC in Khmelnytskyi, Tetyana Krupa, also owns LLC "Solar-Invest," which generates electricity and sells it to a single energy network.

By the way, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation initially came with searches to the Krupa’s family, suspecting that they misappropriated state enterprise "Guaranteed Buyer" funds through electricity sales generated by solar power plants located on individual farms. The alleged enrichment amount, according to investigators, was 12 million UAH. Pre-trial investigation continues on this episode, no suspicions have been announced.

Author: Vitaliy Taranenko