““Golden eggs” of the Ministry of Defense. NABU declared the theft of products for the Armed Forces for UAH 733 million on April 2, 14:27 Share: NABU exposed the theft The persons involved”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
NABU exposed the theft of more than UAH 733 million and an attempt at 788 million UAH (photo: NABU)
NABU and SAP have declared a large -scale scheme of theft of public funds during the purchase of food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The persons involved in the prices of food sets, causing the budget for hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
This is stated in NABU’s statement that received the title “Golden eggs »Ministry of Defense.
The investigation found that in 2022-2023 the supply of food for the army was carried out on the principle of complete procurement. In a catalog consisting of 409 positions, only 10% were the most common products (Vegetables, cereals, meat, water). Others, such as spices, gelatin or seasonal berries, were rarely ordered or not used at all.
The price of the kit was defined as the average cost of all the catalog positions. This created the opportunity for fraud: popular products were sold at inflated prices, and unnecessary – at low. Formally, the set had market value, but in fact the state overpayed millions of hryvnias. The most pronounced example is the potatoes purchased in huge volumes of the three -year, while the cost of cherries or apricots in the winter was negligible.
As a result of this scheme, two supplier companies controlled by one owner alone in August-December 2022 received more than UAH 733 million of illegal profit. The examination confirmed the facts of abuse. Some of these funds were bred abroad and probably used to buy real estate in Croatia.
The suspicion has been reported:
- former head of the Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine;
- owners of suppliers;
- two managers of these companies;
- an individual who contributed to the scheme.
The Ministry of Defense official who was to control the purchases “did not notice” price anomalies in contracts. Its actions contributed to the implementation of equipment.
After the investigation became public, and the media appeared in the purchase of eggs for 17 UAH apiece, the persons involved were forced to reduce prices by 11 key products. This made it possible to prevent further theft of UAH 788 million in budgetary funds.
In addition, after the recommendations of NABU and the SAP, the Ministry of Defense changed the procurement system and introduced new pilot projects.
The investigation is ongoing. Law enforcement officers are working on the establishment of other persons involved in the corruption scheme. The revelation was made possible by cooperation with the State Audit Service of Ukraine.