The State Bureau of Investigations has completed its investigation into a scheme in which criminals misappropriated generators worth 5 million hryvnias, intended for the Ukrainian military.
This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing the press service of the SBI.
As noted by the SBI, they have concluded the pre-trial investigation concerning the commander of the military unit, his deputy, and two entrepreneurs.
According to law enforcement, in 2022, the entrepreneurs involved in generator sales conspired with the deputy commander of the military unit. He was supposed to ensure that the company controlled by them would win the procurement of a thousand diesel generators for the Armed Forces. The contract amount was approximately 43 million hryvnias.
After the agreement was signed, the entrepreneurs did nothing for almost two months. Instead, they entered into an additional agreement. According to this document, the number of generators already ordered from China was reduced by 133 units, but the contract amount remained unchanged.
"These 133 generators were subsequently misappropriated by the perpetrators, resulting in a loss of over 5 million hryvnias to the state budget," the SBI stated.
The commander of the military unit is accused of negligence in military service (part 4 of article 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), while his deputy is charged with inaction of military authority (part 4 of article 426 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). They have already been detained with the possibility of posting bail of 150,000 hryvnias.
The director of one of the enterprises has been placed under personal obligation as a preventive measure.
The deputy director of another enterprise is accused of misappropriating property through the abuse of office and inaction of military authority (part 3 of article 27, part 5 of article 191, part 4 of article 27, part 4 of article 426 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He has been remanded in custody with the possibility of posting bail of 5 million hryvnias.
The sanctions of the articles provide for a punishment of imprisonment for up to 12 years.
It is worth noting that information regarding the generator fraud for the military became known back in May of last year.
Incidentally, in November of last year, law enforcement officials reported suspicions against a military blogger. According to sources from RBK-Ukraine, this concerns Vladislav Sord.
He may have misappropriated funds donated by his subscribers to the military.