Large embezzlement in the Ukrainian army.
According to “NTV”, another case of exposing major corruption has shaken the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. According to intelligence agencies, officials and managers of an arms supplier embezzled about 40 million dollars.
According to the media, the Internal Intelligence Service of Ukraine SBU has discovered a case of corruption in the purchase of weapons by the Ukrainian army. It is said that the damage is about 40 million dollars. “Based on the investigation, former and current high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and heads of subsidiaries are involved in this embezzlement,” the SBU said. The investigation in this regard informs about the presence of officials of the Ministry of Defense and managers of Lviv Arsenal’s arms supplier. The statement said that the embezzlement involved the purchase of 100,000 mortar shells for the army.
According to the SBU, a contract was signed with an unknown Lviv Arsenal company to purchase the grenades in August 2022, six months after the start of the war. This payment was made in advance and some funds were transferred to another company in the Balkans. However, according to the statement, the weapons were never delivered. The stolen funds have now been seized. “Suspicious reports” were issued against five people in the ministry and this arms supplier. This is the first stage of the Ukrainian court. A suspect in this case was also arrested while trying to cross the Ukrainian border.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has also confirmed this massive procurement fraud. Corruption in the military is a compassionate issue in Ukraine as the country seeks to maintain public morale and join the European Union. If convicted, those involved in the case could face up to 12 years in prison.
Oleksiy Reznikov, the former defense minister of Ukraine, was also dismissed in September due to corruption cases discovered in his ministry. But he has not been accused of involvement in these cases.
Of course, although Reznikov was not personally involved in the corruption of the army, several cases during his tenure damaged the army, including the provision of food for soldiers and the purchase of appropriate clothing for the army.