Corruption is Everywhere > Ukrainian police chiefs arrested for receiving bribes from porn studios

 

Ukrainian police bosses detained in porn probe

Adult content producers allegedly paid monthly bribes to keep their illegal operations from being investigated

Published 20 May, 2026 13:04 | Updated 20 May, 2026 14:05

Money seized by Ukrainian investigators during raids on suspected corrupt police officials. ©  Telegram / Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine

Senior Ukrainian police officials have been detained on suspicion of accepting regular bribes from underground porn studios.

Among the high-ranking law enforcement figures arrested on Wednesday in western Ukraine were the police chief of Ivano-Frankovsk Region and his deputy, as well as deputy police chiefs from the Ternopol and Zhitomir regions, authorities said.

A fifth suspect works in the Interior Ministry’s garage and served as a personal driver for a deputy minister, officials said. Investigators allege that he acted as an intermediary and money courier in the corruption scheme.

The anti-graft operation, carried out by several agencies together with the National Police’s internal investigations division, targeted the production of adult content, an illegal but reportedly thriving industry in Ukraine. The suspects are accused of receiving monthly payments of around $25,000 per studio in exchange for shielding porn producers from law enforcement scrutiny.

©  Telegram / Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine

Investigators seized six luxury cars, five expensive Swiss watches, and cash worth roughly $510,000 while executing search warrants connected to the case, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.

©  Telegram / Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine

Opinion polls have suggested that widespread government corruption is seen by many Ukrainians as an even greater threat to the country than the conflict with Russia. Last week, Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, was arrested in a money-laundering case. He was released on Monday after backers posted bail of $3.2 million on his behalf.

Yermak is linked to a broader investigation into an alleged criminal network said to have been led by Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky who fled Ukraine last November shortly before being indicted.

READ MORE: How much? NATO chief calls for ‘Ukraine tax’ bigger than members’ economies

Zelensky has also faced corruption allegations, but his continued claim to presidential authority under martial law, despite his term expiring two years ago, has shielded him from potential prosecution.

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Israel's Health Czar Suspected of Bribery in Australian Principal Child Sex Abuse Case

Corruption is Everywhere - But in the Israeli government?

Yaakov Litzman suspected of accepting bribes related to alleged attempts to influence psychiatrist's assessment that prevented extradition of accused pedophile Malka Leifer

Ronny Linder-Ganz 

File photo: Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman 

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman is suspected of taking a bribe for allegedly attempting to prevent the extradition of an accused pedophile to Australia, according to Channel 13 News.

According to a report published on the weekend by Channel 13’s Baruch Kra, Litzman is suspected of accepting a bribe to influence a psychiatric evaluation of accused pedophile Malka Leifer that would prevent her extradition.

Litzman has been questioned over the past two months (7th story on link) on suspicion that he and his aides threatened senior psychiatrists to change their evaluation of Leifer. The psychiatrists told the police that they were pressured to the point of hints that the outcome would be bad for them if they did not cooperate.

Leifer, a former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls’ school in Melbourne, has been charged with 74 counts of rape and sexual assault. She fled to Israel in 2008.

The police are also investigating Litzman’s alleged interference in the case of a sexual offender close to the Gerrer Hasidic group, by pressuring a psychiatrist to evaluate the offender as low risk, although he had not taken responsibility for his actions. Such an evaluation would mean that the offender would not be subject to close supervision and would allow him to join a rehabilitation program so he can have furloughs from prison.

Malka Leifer is facing possible extradition on 74 counts of suspected sexual abuse. She was the headmistress of an ultra-Orthodox girls’ school in Melbourne and fled to Israel in 2008  Mahmoud Illean/AP

Litzman, who is also chairman of United Torah Judaism, is one of three party leaders suspected of criminal actions, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are expected to join the new government coalition. Netanyahu, who is chairman of Likud, is facing three indictments pending hearings on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the lavish gifts affair, the favorable coverage affair and the Bezeq-Walla affair. The head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Interior Minister Arye Dery, is expected to be indicted for tax fraud.

Pakistan's Sensational Child Sex Abuse Scandal - 2nd in 20 years

Demand for federal probe into Pakistan's biggest 

child sex abuse scandal

HT Correspondent, 
Hindustan Times, Islamabad|

(Credit: Shutterstock)

The discovery of 400 videos of more than 280 children being sexually abused in a village in Pakistani Punjab has prompted a top child protection official to call for a federal inquiry, media report said on Saturday.

Most of the victims were under 14 and they included a six-year-old boy who was forced to perform a homosexual act and a 10-year-old schoolgirl who was filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy, Pakistani daily The Nation reported.

A gang of about 25 young men and teenagers allegedly arranged the abuse and then used the videos to blackmail the children and their families to hand over millions of rupees. Some children stole gold ornaments from their parents to pay off their abusers to keep their ordeal secret.

The abuse began in 2006 and continued until one year ago, police said. They seized more than 400 videos depicting the assaults, and many of the parents have identified their children as the victims in the footage.

The number of victims is almost three times higher than in a similar case in the late 1990s when around 100 children were sexually abused and murdered in Lahore, the report said.

Pakistanis are a special kind of people!!!

The scandal became public earlier this week when the victims’ parents clashed with police during a protest against the failure of authorities to prosecute the men behind the videos. Two dozen people were injured when police used force to disperse more than 4,000 protesters near Dolaywala village in Kasur district on Tuesday.

Saba Sadiq, head of Pakistani Punjab’s Child Protection Bureau, described the case as “the largest ever child abuse scandal in Pakistan’s history” and said a provincial inquiry announced by chief minister Shahbaz Sharif “would be taken up at federal level to safeguard the children rights in future”.

Thousands of copies of the videos of the sexual assaults are believed to have been sold for Rs 50 each in Hussain Khanwala village of Kasur district, the report said.

One of the victims said he was injected with a drug in the spine before being sexually assaulted.

So far only six alleged abusers have been arrested, and five of them were remanded in custody. But the parents of the victims alleged the abuse was orchestrated by a gang of up to 25 led by two men in their forties.

The parents said police tried to cover up the scandal and that the perpetrators used their influence to avoid being charged.

Sadiq said the provincial government of Punjab will also change the law to ensure “vigorous punishment for such criminals”.

Some of the clips showed that several victims were abused for more than an hour.

In one clip, five to six young men are seen molesting a seven-year-old boy. The videos were recorded at different locations – in open fields, washrooms, bedrooms, and at deserted houses.

“We have arrested six persons after registering six separate cases against them on the complaints of the victims. Five of the accused are on physical remand while the sixth has obtained pre-arrest bail,” district police chief Rai Babar Saeed said.

Police seized the videos for evidence. “I don’t know why they made videos and what was their agenda. Police are investigating,” he added.

Police sources said the main suspect was allegedly released after a Rs5 million bribe was paid on his behalf and the families of some victims said they had been subjected to pressure by a local politician to withdraw their allegations.

One mother aged 35 said she sold her gold ornaments to pay Rs 600,000 to blackmailers for videos of her 14-year-old son being abused to be erased. “They made the video of my son in 2011. We have been paying money to the blackmailers for the last four years. I have seen the videos. It was disgusting and shameful,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

A 10-year-old said he was taken to a ‘haveli’ by the gang at gunpoint. “After being brutally tortured, I was administered a ‘spinal injection’ and I was dozing when five to six men molested me one by one,” he said.

The police arrested a 13-year-old boy for having sex with another child. His mother said her son is innocent because he committed the crime under duress. “They not only molested the children themselves but they also asked the victims to rape each other on camera,” she said.

A local resident said the gang sold the videos to gay porn sites operating from Britain, the US and Europe. One victim said he once heard one of the gang leaders talking on Skype to a customer abroad.