The High Anti-Corruption Court did not continue the investigation of former MP Maksym Mykytas in the case of misappropriation of UAH 312 million of Defense Ministry funds. As a result, the NABU and the SAPO were forced to announce the completion of the investigation.
UNN reports this with reference to SAP.
On January 23, 2024, the SAPO prosecutor decided to complete the pre-trial investigation in the case against a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII convocation, his assistant, as well as the director of a controlled company, three former and current senior and senior military officers suspected of misappropriating more than UAH 312 million of funds from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The SAPO notes that this decision was forced and made by the prosecutor after the court refused to extend the pre-trial investigation.
In particular, in the said criminal proceedings, only 3 months of the investigation period out of 12 months established by the CPC of Ukraine for investigation of proceedings of this category were used. As a result, the prosecution was unable to conduct all the investigative and procedural actions that it considered necessary to prove its position during the court's consideration of the case on the merits
For example, the pre-trial investigation established that in 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and companies controlled by a Ukrainian MP signed contracts for the construction of secure storage facilities for missiles and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until 2021.
The amount of the contracts was about UAH 3 billion. At the same time, in order to seize part of these funds, the MP and his assistant, involving senior and senior officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ensured the adoption of amendments to the CMU resolutions.
These changes helped to circumvent legislative restrictions that allowed for advance payments of only 30% of the annual work scope for up to 3 months and allowed for construction advances of 80% of the cost of work under contracts for up to 18 months
It is noted that the implementation of these changes and the signing of additional agreements to the contracts led to the fact that in November-December 2018, the Ministry of Defense transferred more than UAH 312 million to the accounts of the company controlled by the MP.
The investigation found that the construction of the secure warehouses was never actually started, and the allocated funds were transferred to the accounts of other controlled companies and thus legalized.