Defense official detained for illegally writing off UAH 94M

The State Bureau of Investigation has exposed an official of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The official "wrote off" almost UAH 94 million in fines to a Lviv businessman for overdue contracts. State Bureau of Investigation served the official with a notice of suspicion.

This was reported by the SBI press service on Tuesday, November 12.

SBI detains Defense Ministry official

SBI officers served a notice of suspicion to one of the directors of a department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who illegally "wrote off" almost UAH 94 million in fines to a Lviv businessman who had overdue the supply of goods to the Ministry of Defense under a number of contracts.

According to the SBI, in 2023, companies controlled by the businessman entered into contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of military clothing. In particular, the companies signed 23 agreements worth more than UAH 1.5 billion.

"In order to avoid the imposition of penalties or their significant reduction, the dealers appealed to the acting director of the relevant Department of the Ministry of Defense. They asked to recalculate the penalties imposed for violation of the terms of delivery of goods", the SBI reported.

It was established that due to the actions of the acting Director of the Department, the penalties were unreasonably reduced from almost UAH 98 million to UAH 4.5 million, i.e. by UAH 93.5 million.

What is the Defense Ministry official accused of?

The Defense Ministry official was served with a notice of suspicion of abuse of power or position. The sanction of the article provides for a sentence of up to six years in prison.

The investigation will request that the court impose a custodial measure of restraint with an alternative of bail in the amount of UAH 100 million on the suspect.

To recap, in Odesa, the SBI served a notice of suspicion to the head of the water police sector of one of the district departments. He tried to organize a channel for smuggling conscripts to unrecognized Transnistria.

Earlier, Novyny.LIVE wrote that the head of one of the Territorial Recruitment Centers was detained for bribery in Ternopil. During the investigation, material evidence relevant to the investigation was seized from the official.