Military counterintelligence and investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine, with the assistance of the Minister of Defense, were able to expose the embezzlement of over 1 billion UAH allocated for the purchase of food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine during March-December 2022. A former official of the Ministry of Defense is involved in the crime.
Points of attention
- The investigation uncovered that proper verifications were not done, leading to substantial budget losses due to the mismanagement of funds.
- The SBU is taking steps towards justice and working to uncover all individuals involved in the embezzlement scheme.
What the SBU managed to find out
As part of the investigation, it became known that the former head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense, while in office in the spring of 2022, signed an agreement with a private company to purchase wholesale batches of food products and supply them to the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
What is important to understand is that the cost of the product itself was artificially inflated by 41%, and the price of organizing its supply increased by 221%.
According to the case materials, the Defense Ministry official failed to properly verify the validity of the indicated amounts and did not approve the conclusion of the contract with the relevant departments of the defense ministry. This led to particularly large budget losses.
A former official of the Ministry of Defense was reported under suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (embezzlement or appropriation of property through abuse of official position, committed on a particularly large scale).
The SBU draws attention to the fact that the issue of choosing a preventive measure for him is currently being resolved.
It is worth noting that the perpetrator faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
An investigation is underway to bring to justice all those involved in the crime.
