SBU uncovers UAH 270 million corruption scheme involving defective artillery mines for Ukrainian army

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The contract entails the provision of mines to the Ukrainian army, amounting to nearly UAH 270 million.

As revealed by the investigation, the arrangement implicates the leaders of three private companies that secured an order from the Ministry of Defense for the manufacturing of artillery ammunition.

Photo: SBU

According to the documents, the entrepreneurs were supposed to ship the munitions by February 2022, but by this time, the companies had delivered to the Ministry of Defense only a part of the ordered mines, which also turned out to be defective due to the use of low-quality powder.

Subsequent testing of these artillery mines by defense ministry experts revealed their unsuitability for combat conditions. This deficiency had the potential to incapacitate the artillery itself.

After that, the defective batch of ammunition was returned to the manufacturing companies to correct the identified deficiencies. However, the entrepreneurs did not fix the technical faults and did not supply the Ukrainian defenders with any ammunition according to the state order.

Based on the evidence collected, two company executives were served a notice of suspicion of large-scale fraud (Part 4 of Art. 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The suspects face up to 8 years in prison.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilty