Law enforcement officers uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme during defense procurement for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: the head of a private company is suspected of supplying substandard protective equipment and embezzling almost UAH 60 million in budget funds. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General and the SBU, writes UNN.
Details
As a result of extensive joint work by the Office of the Prosecutor General and employees of the Security Service of Ukraine, a commercial enterprise head was notified of suspicion for organizing the embezzlement of budget funds during the execution of state contracts for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He is suspected of misappropriating another's property by abusing his official position committed on an especially large scale under martial law, i.e., committing a criminal offense provided for in Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The investigation established that in 2024, under martial law, the official, abusing his official position, ensured the participation of a controlled enterprise in two state procurements of personal protective equipment for the military. In total, it concerned the supply of more than 40,000 units of ballistic glasses and goggle-masks.
To formally comply with the qualification requirements, documents on alleged cooperation with foreign manufacturers were submitted as part of the tender proposals.
At the same time, the enterprise was actually unable to supply products that met the technical conditions of state contracts.
Law enforcement officers found that protective equipment was purchased through intermediaries from third parties, without confirmation of their origin and compliance with established standards. According to the results of expert examinations, it was established that ballistic glasses and goggle-masks do not meet technical specifications in terms of protection against ballistic and mechanical fragments.
Despite this, substandard protective equipment was accepted and transferred to military units, after which the state enterprise-customer made the payment.
The total amount of transferred funds is almost UAH 60 million, which is an especially large amount.
To document the criminal scheme, prosecutors, together with the SBU, carried out a significant amount of investigative and procedural actions: tender documentation, terms of state contracts, logistics of supply, financial transactions, as well as the results of expert examinations regarding the actual quality of the supplied protective equipment were analyzed. It was the collected materials that became the basis for the notification of suspicion.
Due to the fact that the suspect is abroad, the notification was made in the manner provided for in Art. 135 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Measures are being taken to declare the suspect wanted.