Ukrainian MP faces jail after 'faking sick leave to go the Maldives'
Ukrainian MP quits and faces three years in jail after ‘faking sick leave then taking his family to a luxury hotel in the Maldives’ despite ban on leaving the country for holidays
- Yuriy Aristov, 48, stayed at the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in the Maldives
- There has been a wartime ban on officials leaving Ukraine since the invasion
A Ukrainian MP has quit his job and faces three years in jail after he reportedly faked sick leave to take his family to a luxury hotel in the Maldives – despite a ban on leaving the country.
Yuriy Aristov, 48, travelled to Poland for a work trip, but then faked sick leave and went the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel on the island of Ithaafushi.
There is a wartime ban on officials leaving the country, while men of a fighting age (18 to 60) need special permission to do so.
A news report had revealed the case, triggering a vehement reaction from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech on Tuesday.
‘For some, it’s about islands and resorts during the war, for others it’s about lining one’s pockets in the military enlistment office, for others it’s about bribes in the courts,’ he said.
Yuriy Aristov, 48, travelled to Poland for a work trip, but then faked sick leave and went to a luxurious hotel in the Maldives with his family, according to investigators
He stayed at a five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel (pictured, file image) on the island of Ithaafushi, where Ukraine’s SBU security service said he travelled ‘under the guise of a ‘business trip”’
‘Any internal betrayal, any ‘beach’ or any personal enrichment instead of Ukraine’s interests triggers fury,’ Zelensky said.
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Investigators opened a case on charges of forgery that carry up to three years of imprisonment, the State Bureau of Investigation said. The SBU also searched his home on Wednesday.
A criminal case will assess whether he gave false information to authorities in his bid to leave the country.
In total, Aristov was abroad for a month and a half from June 5 to July 22.
He first travelled to Poland to ‘deepen bilateral cooperation with the Lithuanian government’.
From July 10 to 19 he then recorded sick leave. It is thought he entered inaccurate medical information into the system as no examination was carried out.
Ukrainian media then spotted him in the Maldives resort, which was later confirmed by both the hotel and the MP himself.
Ukraine’s parliament is set to vote on the resignation of Aristov, who was also the deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence.
Aristov is believed to have been a close ally with Zelensky, with the two even said to have been partners in a seafood and restaurant business in the past
He was a close ally of Zelensky, with the two even having been partners in a seafood and restaurant business at one point, according to Ukrainian media.
There have been several scandals involving high-ranking Ukrainian officials since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
On Monday, Ukraine detained a former official from the southern Odesa region, accusing him of bribes in return for exempting some people from being conscripted into the army.
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