The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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KYIV — The Security Service of Ukraine and national law enforcement agencies said they uncovered a corruption scheme involving regional police officials who allegedly accepted bribes in exchange for ignoring underground pornography production operations and adult content creators in several regions of the country.
The case comes as members of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, continue discussions on proposals that would decriminalize pornography.
According to local reports, the investigation implicated the police chief of the Ivano-Frankivsk region and his deputy, as well as two deputy police chiefs from the Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions. Authorities also identified a fifth suspect described as the personal driver of a deputy interior minister, who allegedly acted as an intermediary and courier in the scheme.
Investigators allege the five suspects received monthly payments of up to $25,000 per studio in exchange for shielding adult content producers from law enforcement scrutiny.
Authorities said criminal investigators seized six luxury vehicles, five Swiss watches, and approximately $510,000 while carrying out searches connected to the investigation.
The investigation remains ongoing, according to a Wednesday statement from the office of Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko. “This refers to premises where illegal erotic and pornographic video content was created, produced, and distributed via the internet,” Kravchenko said in the release. “Today, investigative actions are being conducted simultaneously in three main departments of the National Police.”
“The goal of the operation is to identify all officials who may have been involved in the scheme, to verify the role of each, and to provide a legal assessment of the actions of police leaders who, instead of combating crime, may have been covering it up,” Kravchenko added.
