Former Defense Ministry official suspected of nearly UAH 94 million in "written-off" fines for Lviv businessman - SBI
Kyiv • UNN
The former director of the Ministry of Defense department was informed of suspicion of abuse of office. He groundlessly reduced the fine from 98 million to 4.5 million UAH for overdue contracts for the supply of military clothing.
One of the officials of the Ministry of Defense was notified of suspicion, who is suspected of “writing off” almost 94 million UAH of fines to a Lviv businessman for overdue contracts, the State Bureau of Investigation reported, UNN writes.
Details
“SBI officers served a notice of suspicion to one of the directors of a department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. He “wrote off” almost UAH 94 million in fines to a Lviv businessman who had overdue the supply of goods to the Ministry of Defense under a number of contracts,” the SBI said.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, the former director of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was served a notice of suspicion of abuse of office (part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the SBI, in 2023, companies controlled by the businessman entered into contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of military clothing. In particular, the companies signed 23 agreements for more than UAH 1.5 billion. “At the same time, at the time of signing the agreements, the companies controlled by the Lviv businessman had neither their own production capabilities nor agreements with other companies to ensure the proper execution of the agreements,” the bureau said.
“In order to avoid the imposition of penalties or their significant reduction, the businessmen appealed to the acting director of the relevant department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. They asked him to recalculate the penalties imposed for violation of the terms of delivery of goods. The official, in violation of the norms of previously concluded agreements, unreasonably and unjustifiably entered into additional agreements extending the terms of delivery of goods, including under agreements that had already been fully executed,” the SBI reported.
According to the SBI, it was established that due to the actions of the acting director of the department, the fines imposed were unreasonably reduced from almost UAH 98 million to UAH 4.5 million, i.e. by UAH 93.5 million.
Currently, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, the issue of choosing a preventive measure against the suspect is being decided.
“The investigation will ask the court to impose on him a preventive measure in the form of detention, with an alternative of bail in the amount of UAH 100 million,” the SBI said in a statement.
The sanction of the article charged against the defendant provides for a sentence of up to six years in prison.
Addendum Addendum
On January 17, 2024, the State Bureau of Investigation served suspicion notices to members of a criminal organization led by a Lviv businessman who caused almost a billion hryvnias in damage to the state.
