After passing a polygraph test, former Ukrainian Defense Ministry official Oleksandr Liev proved that he was not involved in the crime he is suspected of committing. This was stated in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Volodymyr Vedmid, director of the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraph Examiners, who conducted the polygraph test.
According to him, the information that is being actively disseminated that Liev allegedly failed a polygraph test is completely incorrect.
"When analyzing the suspicion, the main thing is that Vig did not commit the main actions that he is charged with. Based on the suspicion I studied and the questions on the test, he did not fail it at all, but proved his innocence.
He passed the test, and he gave truthful answers to six questions that were very important in terms of suspicion. The fact remains that out of seven questions, six were corroborative and one was not," Vedmid said.
He added that the conclusions based on the answers were made last Friday, when Liev took the first polygraph test. The test on Monday, February 5, when Liev answered the controversial question with a clarification, was, in fact, a demonstration of what happened on Friday.
"He gave the answer with the application during yesterday's test. But we made a conclusion based on the results of the test that was conducted on Friday. And on Friday, the answer was definitely no.
Yesterday's test did not fully comply with the methodology, because according to the rules, the examination should be conducted without the presence of other people, cameras, journalists - only one-on-one with a polygraph examiner. And yesterday, Mr. Oleksandr himself wanted such a demonstration test. We did not take its results into account, and we did not draw up a conclusion based on the results of this test. It was just a demonstration of what was happening on Friday," said the director of the All-Ukrainian Association of Polygraph Examiners.
Context
On February 2 and 5, former acting head of the Department of Military and Technical Policy, Development of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Liev underwent two polygraph tests to prove his innocence in the case of alleged embezzlement of almost UAH 1.5 billion for the purchase of shells for the Armed Forces. One of them was public in the presence of 14 different media outlets. He clearly answered 6 out of 7 questions during the inspection. When asked whether he had received instructions from his superiors to sign a contract with Lviv Arsenal, which is involved in the case, Liev saidthat this required explanation.
According to Liev, he was under legitimate pressure from the country's military and political leadership: meetings were held in the President's Office, with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces, where they demanded that he immediately and as soon as possible provide ammunition to the Armed Forces. There were no instructions to sign a contract with any particular company. There were only indications of an urgent purchase of shells.
"I still remember this pressure on myself very well. If I was asked whether I had received an instruction to provide ammunition, the answer would be 'yes'. Was there an instruction to provide ammunition in the procurement with this particular company - the answer is no, because it was not a conversation about any particular company. The conversation was always about the need for ammunition," Liev commented on his answer.
He noted that during a polygraph test, you can answer "yes," "no," or "I don't know," which is why he gave such an answer, because no matter what answer he gave, it would still not be completely correct. All other questions were answered clearly and confirmed by the polygraph examiner.
Recall
In late January , the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had uncovered a scheme to embezzle public funds during the purchase of ammunition. The officials in question were officials of the Ministry of Defense and managers of the Lviv Arsenal. According to the investigation, the criminals tried to steal almost UAH 1.5 billion of budget funds for the purchase of 100,000 mortar rounds for the Armed Forces. However, the funds were not at the disposal of any individual, but were kept on the accounts of Lviv Arsenal and were arrested.
On January 27, 2024, Liev was detained in this case, but the High Anti-Corruption Court refused to apply any preventive measure to him due to lack of evidence.
Oleksandr Liev resigned from the Ministry of Defense of his own free will a year ago on February 3, 2023.