The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) dismantled a large-scale scheme of embezzling defense funds that operated in two regions of Ukraine. According to case materials, the suspects misappropriated 102 million hryvnias of the state budget intended for the production of reactive armor for Ukrainian Armed Forces tanks.
As a result of comprehensive operations in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the organizers of the scheme were exposed: the commercial director of the state enterprise, its former head, and the owner of the contractor company.
The investigation found that in April 2022, the state factory signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the urgent procurement of reactive armor systems for domestic tanks.
The equipped armored vehicles were supposed to be urgently deployed to the frontline directly from the factory workshops.
However, instead of immediately fulfilling the defense order, the main suspect, who at the time headed the manufacturing enterprise, organized the embezzlement of budget funds.
To carry out the scheme, he involved the factory’s commercial director and the founder of the contractor company, with whom he signed a contract to purchase armor components at prices three times higher than market rates.
The resulting “difference” was funneled into the shadow economy through a network of controlled companies for further distribution among the participants in the criminal scheme.
Expert examinations initiated by the SSU and NABU confirmed the damage caused to the state budget in particularly large amounts.
During searches at the workplaces and residences of the suspects, documents and computer equipment used in the illegal activities were seized.
Based on the collected evidence, three organizers of the crime were notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 3, Article 27; Part 5, Article 191 (embezzlement, misappropriation, or seizure of property through abuse of office, committed by a group by prior conspiracy)
- Part 3, Article 209 (legalization [laundering] of property obtained by criminal means)
- Part 1, Article 366 (official forgery)
Currently, the former head of the defense plant is already in custody as part of a previously initiated investigation into the production of defective mortar shells. The SSU investigators detained him at the end of April this year.
The preventive measures for the other suspects are still being determined.
The comprehensive operations were carried out by SSU officers in the Dnipropetrovsk region under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
