A systemic corruption scheme involving leadership at the Regional Service Center (RSC) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Poltava region has been alleged. Reports suggest that high-ranking officials have established illicit income streams through the sale of driver’s licenses and the systematic extortion of employees for job security.
According to internal reports, Deputy Head of the Poltava RSC Iryna Parkhomenko has allegedly organized a scheme to recover funds purportedly spent to secure appointments for herself and her husband, Serhiy Rabkov, who was assigned to a specialized testing center in Kyiv (TSC #8042).
To obtain a driver’s license in the region, a flat «fee» of $20,000 USD is reportedly required. The process is broken down into two illicit stages:
The Theory Test: Candidates pay «intermediaries» (known locally as «runners») who coordinate with system administrators. During the exam, the administrator uses remote access to complete the test for the candidate.
The Practical Test: Despite mandatory video recording, examiners are accused of professionally manipulating the vehicle’s pedals from the passenger side to guide the candidate, while deliberately ignoring driving errors that would normally result in a failure.
Beyond the sale of licenses, the RSC leadership is allegedly using the threat of office closures to extract bribes from their own staff. Employees seeking to maintain their positions—or secure the necessary mobilization exemptions linked to their government jobs—must pay for the privilege of being transferred to functioning service centers, such as those in Butenky (TSC #5346) and Horishni Plavni (TSC #5348).
Insiders point to TSC #5341 in Poltava and TSC #5342 in Kremenchuk, where heads Ihor Shtepa and Valeriy Lobanov have allegedly installed a network of loyal administrators and intermediaries to manage these payments.
«The heads of these centers are effectively trapped in the system,» the report notes. «For instance, Vitaliy Mohyla, head of the center in Horishni Plavni, is reportedly struggling to recoup the $30,000 he allegedly paid to Parkhomenko for his own appointment before the center was slated for closure.»
These widespread allegations of bribery within the Ministry of Internal Affairs service centers raise serious concerns regarding the legitimacy of driver training and road safety standards in the region. The evidence points to corruption schemes that function not only as a means of personal enrichment but as a method of total administrative control. As of now, there has been no official statement from the Main Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the situation in the Poltava region.