"Laundered" over UAH 578 million on defense contracts: law enforcement detained the organizers of the "scheme"
Kyiv • UNN
Law enforcement officers exposed a scheme to legalize over UAH 578 million obtained from defense contracts. Enterprise officials acted in collusion with a "conversion center," withdrawing budget funds through forged documents.
Law enforcement officers have uncovered a complex and well-disguised scheme for legalizing funds obtained during the execution of defense contracts. The total amount of financial transactions with signs of money laundering exceeds UAH 578 million. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Details
As the investigation established, in 2023–2024, officials of one of the defense enterprises acted in collusion with the organizers of the so-called "conversion center." Through forged financial and economic documents, they created a mechanism for withdrawing and cashing out budget funds paid by the state for defense orders.
During this time, state customers transferred over UAH 2.5 billion to the enterprise for contracts for the repair of military equipment and machinery. Part of these funds was directed to the accounts of controlled fictitious companies, allegedly for the supply of spare parts for the needs of the Armed Forces. In reality, the money passed through a network of shell individuals and enterprises, was cashed out, and returned to the organizers of the scheme and representatives of the main enterprise. For "services" in legalizing funds, the participants in the scheme received 4-5 percent commission
The investigation found that the leaders of the so-called supplier companies actually reside in the temporarily occupied territory and could not manage Ukrainian enterprises or sign contracts. There is no information about their presence in the territory controlled by Ukraine after 2014, and no powers of attorney were issued by them.
Some of the "owners" of these companies, according to foreign registers, do not exist at all, which completely excludes the legality of concluding relevant agreements. According to the analytical conclusion of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, financial transactions totaling over UAH 576 million show signs of money laundering obtained by criminal means
Two organizers of the conversion center and a shadow accountant have been notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means by an organized group or on a particularly large scale). The sanction of the article provides for confiscation of property and imprisonment for eight to twelve years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years.
The full circle of persons involved in the scheme is also being established, and the possibility of similar offenses in the field of defense procurement is being checked.