NABU and SAPO, together with the SBU, exposed a scheme for misappropriating state funds during the procurement of services for the modernization of the hardware and software complex (hereinafter referred to as the APC) of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
Points of attention
- NABU, SAP, and SSU cooperated to uncover a corruption scheme in public procurement at the Ministry of Justice involving misappropriation of state funds.
- Suspects include former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and company executives who overstated the cost of services to gain unlawful benefits.
- The scheme involved manipulating the bidding process to ensure the controlled LLC wins the contract at an inflated cost, causing significant financial losses to the state budget.
New corruption scheme in public procurement: what is known
Among the suspects:
former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice;
current head and deputy head of departments of the Ministry of Justice;
the beneficial owner and two managers of the limited liability company.
According to the plan developed by the beneficial owner of the LLC, ministry officials organized the introduction of appropriate changes to the budget for 2021 for the purpose of purchasing services for the modernization of the agricultural complex.
Later, the LLC's managers prepared a technical specification for the modernization of the agricultural complex. In order to eliminate competitors, it specified specific requirements for the characteristics of the equipment that the company intended to supply.
To inflate the cost of services, requests for commercial offers were sent to the LLC and other previously identified companies and the "necessary" responses were received.
This became the basis for the start of the bidding. In order for it to take place, the participants in the scheme secured the formal participation of another company, whose tender proposal was deemed less commercially attractive than that of the controlled LLC.
As a result, the ministry concluded a contract with the LLC, under which it received services at an inflated cost, and the state budget suffered losses in the amount of more than UAH 10 million.
The actions of the suspects were qualified under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The head of the department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine was additionally charged with committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
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