The organizer of a document forgery scheme was sentenced to 5 years; the case involved blanks stolen from the occupied territory of Ukraine

 A Kyiv resident was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property for organizing the manufacture and sale of forged official documents featuring holographic security elements. During the investigation, detectives of the Territorial Office of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region established that in his activity he used, in particular, official document blanks stolen from a service center in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region.

The investigation established that the accused, together with an accomplice, organized the manufacture of forged driver's licenses, vehicle registration certificates, diplomas, birth certificates, notarial blanks, and similar documents on the territory of Romania. For this purpose, the dealers used specialized printing equipment, holographic elements, and document templates.

To transport the equipment and printing materials to Ukraine, the suspect used the services of a private carrier, hiding the illegal contents of the cargo from them. However, at the Diakivtsi checkpoint, law enforcement officers discovered about 1,200 document blanks with holographic elements.

During the searches, they also seized equipment for printing counterfeits, information storage media with document templates, hundreds of signature samples, and lists of MIA service centers.

Fingerprint examinations confirmed that the fingerprints of the convicted man were on the seized printers and other printing equipment.

In the course of the pretrial investigation, ESBU detectives sent requests to the Main Service Center of the MIA and the Polygraph Combine "Ukraina" regarding the origin of the seized evidence. It was established that part of the seized blanks had been stolen in 2022 from the territorial service center of the MIA in the city of Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region, after its occupation by russian troops. This documentation was officially wanted as strict accountability blanks.

The court found the man guilty under part 2 of article 199, part 3 of article 358, and article 198 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (manufacture and sale of forged holographic security elements, forgery of official documents and blanks, as well as storage of property knowingly obtained by criminal means) and sentenced him to 5 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property. After the verdict was announced, the man was taken into custody in the courtroom.

Operational support was carried out by employees of the SSU Department in the Chernivtsi region, and procedural guidance was provided by prosecutors of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office.