In the Defense Ministry, law enforcement officers exposed and eliminated a corruption scheme to purchase ammunition for the Armed Forces worth almost UAH 1.5 billion. According to the SBU, the head of one of the Defense Ministry's main departments involved in the fraud was detained in Kyiv, UNN reports.
Details
According to the investigation, in December last year, an official of the Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with a special export company to purchase a wholesale batch of artillery shells for Ukrainian defenders. But then the budget funds were not transferred to the accounts of the special exporter.
"The newly created Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense subsequently signed a more favorable contract for the supply of the same artillery shells with the same manufacturer.
The new contract, unlike the previous one, provided for the purchase of ammunition without intermediaries, directly from the manufacturer, which significantly reduced the delivery time and cost of the products.
However, the defendant, ignoring the contract of the Defense Procurement Agency, unreasonably extended the previous agreement with the special exporting company.
Moreover, after the prolongation of the "old" contract, almost UAH 1.5 billion was transferred to the accounts of an affiliated foreign intermediary firm. This amount exceeded the cost of the products under a direct contract with the manufacturer by 30%," the SBU said.
According to law enforcement officers, during searches at the suspect's work and residence, they found documents confirming the illegal activity.
Within the framework of the criminal proceedings initiated by the SBU investigators under Part 2 of Art. 114-1 (obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces and other military formations) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the issue of serving the official a notice of suspicion is being resolved.
The suspect has now been suspended from duty. In addition, the Ministry of Defense is taking measures to return almost UAH 1.5 billion misappropriated to the budget of Ukraine.
The investigation is ongoing. The offender faces up to 15 years in prison.