The case involving the embezzlement of millions at the Ministry of Justice has been sent to court — who is among the accused

The indictment in the case involving the misappropriation of funds belonging to the Ministry of Justice during the procurement of services for upgrading a hardware-and-software complex and 1,285 multifunctional devices has been sent to court. This was reported by the press service of the SAPO, according to UNN. 

The defendants include:

• the former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice;
• the head and deputy head of departments of the Ministry of Justice;
• the beneficial owner and two executives of a private company.

As part of the pre-trial investigation conducted by NABU detectives, it was established that the company's beneficial owner devised a criminal scheme involving officials of the Ministry of Justice in order to misappropriate public funds during procurement procedures.

"First episode: officials of the Ministry of Justice amended the estimate for 2021, while executives of the private company organized the preparation of technical specifications for upgrading the hardware-and-software complex, including specific requirements for the equipment's characteristics that ensured this particular company would win the tenders. In addition, it was found that the cost of the services indicated in the company's commercial proposals had been significantly inflated," the SAPO stated. 

To create the appearance that the tender process was lawful, the individuals involved another private company; however, its tender proposal was deemed less commercially attractive. Implementation of this scheme caused losses of more than UAH 10 million to the Ministry of Justice.

"Second episode: in order to procure multifunctional devices, officials of the Ministry of Justice arranged for the relevant amendments to be made to the estimate for 2021. Subsequently, to establish an inflated expected procurement value, requests for commercial proposals were sent to the private company and other companies identified in advance, and the necessary responses were obtained. To create the appearance of competition, the participants in the scheme ensured the formal participation in the tender of another enterprise, whose tender proposal was deemed less commercially attractive than that of the controlled company. As a result, the Ministry of Justice purchased multifunctional devices at an inflated price, and the state lost more than UAH 8.9 million," the SAPO added. 

The perpetrators transferred the money obtained in this way to the accounts of business entities showing signs of being fictitious.

The individuals' actions were classified under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. One of the private company's executives was additionally charged under Part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, while the head of a department of the Ministry of Justice was charged under Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

It will be recalled 

NABU and the SAPO completed the pre-trial investigation in the case concerning the alleged misappropriation of public funds during procurements by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.