Equipment procurement fraud: investigation completed regarding former official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
Law enforcement officers have completed the investigation into the case of the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who is suspected of abuses during the procurement of equipment. The state's losses are estimated at over 16 million hryvnias.
Law enforcement agencies have completed the investigation into the case of a former high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. This was reported by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Telegram, UNN reports.
Law enforcement officers do not name the top official, but UNN learned from its own sources that it is Oleksiy Takhtai - until 2021 he was the state secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Details
According to law enforcement officers, in 2020, one of the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the head of a state institution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine ensured the victory in the procurement procedure for video surveillance and access control equipment, which was installed in the buildings of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, to a pre-determined company.
Despite the inflated cost of the equipment, the state institution transferred funds for it - as a result, this led to the institution suffering losses in the amount of more than 16 million hryvnias.
Subsequently, the funds by which the cost of the equipment was overstated were transferred to the accounts of other companies, and then the suspects cashed out the money. In order to win the procurement, the entrepreneur during 2018-2019, through the public organization he headed, transferred four premium cars with a total value of more than UAH 6 million for free use to the specified high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
After the official was dismissed from the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, these cars were actually transferred to his ownership. He re-registered them to a public organization under his control in order to hide the fact of ownership of this property.
The actions of the former high-ranking official are qualified under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine at once, including - appropriation, embezzlement of property or possession of it by abuse of office; acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of illegal benefit by an official; legalization of proceeds of crime. If found guilty by the court, he may face a long term of imprisonment.
Reminder
At the beginning of 2025, a former top official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was exposed in a large-scale scheme of embezzling budget funds and bribery.