SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) carried out searches on employees of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Lviv Arsenal as part of the investigation into the theft of 1.5 billion UAH during the purchase of 100 thousand mortar shells. This was reported on the SBU Telegram channel.
According to the investigation, former and current officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and heads of companies affiliated with it were involved in a criminal conspiracy. After the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine transferred funds to the contractor for the production of shells, the Lviv Arsenal management transferred part of the funds to the balance of a foreign commercial structure, which was supposed to supply the ordered ammunition to Ukraine.
“However, he did not even send a cannonball to our country” and left the funds he received in the shadows and transferred them to the accounts of another structure affiliated with him in the Balkans. The rest of the funds transferred to the Ministry of Defense remained in the accounts of the Ukrainian company in one of the capital’s banks, the SBU said in its statement.
It is emphasized that all participants in the criminal plan were identified.
Before that, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine accused The country’s former deputy defense minister, Vyacheslav Shapovalov, was arrested for embezzling $25 million by purchasing low-quality bulletproof vests.
The former head of the ministry’s procurement department, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, was named as Shapovalov’s accomplice. This is already the fourth suspicion leveled against these officials. According to investigators, they are guilty of purchasing 50 thousand unusable bulletproof vests for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Previously SBU blocked Channel containing warnings about raids on military deserters.