Case involving the procurement of 300,000 unfit gloves for the AFU worth 231 million UAH sent to court - Prosecutor General
Kyiv • UNN
The case of a former Ministry of Defense official regarding the procurement of 300,000 low-quality gloves has been referred to court. The losses to the state amount to over 231 million hryvnias.
The case of a former Ministry of Defense official regarding the supply of 300,000 unusable gloves for the Armed Forces of Ukraine worth 231 million UAH has been sent to court, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced on Monday on social media, UNN reports.
When a country is at war, every procurement for the army is a matter of not only money but also the safety of the military. An indictment has been sent to court regarding the former acting director of the Department of State Procurement of the Ministry of Defense. According to the investigation, due to his negligence, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received 300,000 pairs of tactical gloves unfit for their intended use,
According to the Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Defense concluded contracts for their supply in the amount of over 231 million UAH. The official was responsible for conducting these procurements, the Prosecutor General noted.
The investigation, according to him, established that "during the conclusion of the contracts, requirements for the mandatory compliance of products with Ministry of Defense standards were removed from the documentation." "In addition, the characteristics of the goods were changed and advance payments were approved without proper justification," Kravchenko added.
"The result: the army received gloves that did not meet the established requirements. Expert conclusions confirmed that they did not provide proper protection for service members and were unfit for their intended use," Kravchenko indicated.
Instead of the thermoplastic rubber stipulated by the technical specifications, the products, according to the Prosecutor General, were made of ordinary rubber and failed basic expert tests for resistance to cutting and puncturing – not to mention use in real conditions of assaults, shelling, or evacuation of the wounded.
The damage to the state, as Kravchenko noted, amounts to over 231 million UAH.
"In August 2024, the former official was notified of suspicion. Today, the investigation is complete, and the indictment has been sent to court," he indicated.
The pre-trial investigation in the case was carried out by the SBU.
"It is a matter of principle for me that every hryvnia allocated for defense works for the Ukrainian soldier, rather than becoming a consequence of official negligence or someone's decisions for which the state later has to pay. We continue our work," Kravchenko emphasized.