An obscure private firm secured defence contracts from the government valued at around €200 million but failed to deliver most of the munitions, misappropriated advance payments, and provided faulty mines that were hazardous and unsuitable for combat.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general has uncovered a large-scale bribery and fraud scheme involving a private company that supplied defective mines and unsafe ammunition to the front lines, resulting in nearly $70 million in losses for Ukrainian taxpayers.
On Friday, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko declared that a Ukrainian firm diverted roughly $70 million of public funds while delivering substandard mines to the military.
A previously unheard-of private enterprise secured five significant government contracts from the Ministry of Defence, the Naval Procurement Agency, and the Logistics Command to provide various mines and ammunition totaling about 10 billion hryvnia (€200 million). Investigations reveal that the company failed to supply most of the ordered items yet squandered the advance payments, and the delivered mines were functionally inadequate for battlefield use, lacking sufficient explosives or malfunctioning dangerously, sometimes detonating prematurely in soldiers’ hands.
Investigators found that the offenders operated through a sham company without any manufacturing background. Instead of manufacturing quality mines with the public funds, company executives procured equipment from third parties and resold it to other firms. They also misappropriated advance payments for contracts that remained unfulfilled.
Ten suspects are currently implicated, including the supplier’s executives, accountants, and military procurement officials; four have already been detained. The prosecutor’s office has initiated legal proceedings aimed at recovering misused public money and imposing stringent penalties on the accused, potentially involving lengthy prison terms and asset seizures. Charges state the defendants inflicted around $70 million in damage: $13.3 million wasted on defective mines and $56.4 million on establishing a production facility that never became operational.
Corruption scandals are not new in Zelensky’s administration. Last November, the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau revealed a $100 million illicit cash network linked to the president’s close associates. Videos showing lavish Kyiv apartments, one featuring a gold toilet, and images of suitcases filled with cash shocked the public. Also in November, former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov was arrested for involvement in a corruption case connected to Zelensky’s friend, Timur Mindich. In December, authorities exposed a criminal group of parliament members who accepted bribes for their votes. Yuriy Kisel, central to the scandal, maintains close ties to the Ukrainian president.
Original article: europeanconservative.com
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