FORENSIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CRIMINAL OFFENCES RELATED TO THE STATE SUPPORT OF HEALTHCARE SECTOR

Abstract

The scientific article specifies the forensic characteristics
of criminal offences related to the state support of healthcare and
its importance for the investigation of such offences. The study
used a combination of general scientific (dialectical, formal and
logical) and special methods of scientific knowledge (systemic and
structural, comparative and legal, sociological, statistical). The
empirical basis of the study was formed by materials on 138
facts registered on the grounds of criminal offences in the
healthcare sector, as well as our own many years of practical
experience in investigating such offences. The scientific novelty
of the article lies in specifying the forensic characteristics
of criminal offences related to the іtate of healthcare as an
integral system, the structural elements of which cover the
current peculiarities of committing such offences, and
understanding of their interrelations serves as a scientific tool
for improving the efficiency of law enforcement bodies.
The article identifies the object of unlawful encroachments,
namely property, while giving priority to public funds, which
include not only state and local budgets but also international
co-financing. The author analyses modern methods of
committing criminal offences in the healthcare sector,
including misappropriation of state budget funds provided
for the implementation of the programme of state guarantees
of medical care for the reimbursement of medicines and
medical devices, entering false information into the eHealth
electronic system, conducting public procurement of goods,
works and services at an inflated cost or with falsification of
documents on their acceptance, accounting, write-off or use,
and so on. The identity of an offender is characterised through
a system of social, biological and professional knowledge –
medical and non-medical representatives of the healthcare
facility, suppliers of goods or contractors of the ordered
work, and so on. The article raises problematic issues in
determining the injured party, in particular, in cases of
misappropriation or seizure of property received from donors
as humanitarian or charitable aid, as well as in criminal
proceedings where the injured party is a municipal business
entity. The author highlights the peculiarities of the situation
in which the criminal offences in question are committed,
focusing on its multicomponent nature, which includes
characteristics of the healthcare sector itself, the place of
activity, as well as the place, time and conditions of
the criminal offence, including the regulatory and legal
support for public procurement of goods, works and
services. It is stated that the trace picture is formed by
traces-objects, traces-substances, traces-reflections,
imaginary (ideal) and electronic (digital) traces, with a focus
on open information resources and electronic public
procurement systems. The problematic aspects of
preserving trace information are noted. The practical
significance of the results obtained is, inter alia, that the
determination of the elemental composition of the
criminalistic characteristics of criminal offences related
to the state support of healthcare makes it possible,
at the initial stage of pre-trial investigation, to put
forward versions, to outline typical investigative situations,
to plan procedural actions in the most optimal way and to
solve the tasks of criminal proceedings defined by law