“On March 6, the Solomyansky District Court of Kyiv considered the issue of choosing a preventive measure against five officials of the state-owned enterprise “Spetstechnoexport”, which is part of the “Ukroboronprom” concern. They are suspected of embezzlement of budget funds in the amount of 55.5 million hryvnias. During the court session, the details of the high-profile case were announced. The main circumstances of the case were outlined during the review of the preventive measure for the current manager”, — write on: ua.news
On March 6, the Solomyansky District Court of Kyiv considered the issue of choosing a preventive measure against five officials of the state-owned enterprise “Spetstechnoexport”, which is part of the “Ukroboronprom” concern.
They are suspected of embezzlement of budget funds in the amount of 55.5 million hryvnias. During the court session, the details of the high-profile case were announced.
The main circumstances of the case were laid out during the review of the preventive measure for the current head of the enterprise, Vladyslav Belbas.
Investigating judge Iryna Antipova heard SAP prosecutor Olga Yarova, who outlined the essence of the suspicion. According to her, in 2009 “Spetstechnoexport” concluded an agency agreement with the Global Marketing company from the UAE. It was supposed to accompany the execution of the contract with the Ministry of Defense of India, providing translation services, consulting and transport services. For this, the Ukrainian side transferred $2.2 million to the company, but in fact these services were not provided, which led to the embezzlement of the specified amount.
The lawyer of Vladyslav Belbas, Serhiy Shapov, stated that his client was not responsible for the “Indian direction” and could not know the details of the negotiations, signing only ready-made documents. He explained that each manager in “Spetstechnoexport” deals only with his area.
Vladyslav Belbas did not admit the suspicion, saying that he signed the prepared documents without knowing the details of the negotiations. He clarified that the contract with India concluded in 2009 provided for the repair and modernization of 105 AN-32 aircraft for the Indian Air Force, including the repair of engines, airframes and installation of new avionics. The contract was completed in 2015.
Belbas noted that during the implementation of the agreement, part of the aircraft was repaired in Ukraine, and part – in India, with the involvement of Ukrainian specialists and components supplied by the State Enterprise “Zavod 410 GA”. Additional agreements signed in 2014 with Global Marketing became the object of the investigation.
Belbas emphasized that at the time of the events considered in the case (2014-2016), he was the deputy responsible for the areas of Indonesia, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. He fully learned about the situation with the Indian contract only in June 2018, when he was appointed acting director of “Spetstechnoexport” instead of Pavel Barbul. At the same time, in 2017, “Spetstechnoexport” refused the services of Global Marketing, being dissatisfied with its work.
According to Belbas, the fulfillment of the contract with India brought state awards to the company’s employees. However, he expressed concern that the publicity of the case could negatively affect the military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and India.
Belbas also stated that the actions of NABU detectives, who sent out international requests in the case, undermined the reputation of Ukraine, creating unnecessary resonance around the contract.
According to the results of the meeting, the court decided to arrest all five suspects with the alternative of posting bail. The head of the enterprise, Vladyslav Belbas, was given a bail of UAH 7 million, and the former head of the state-owned enterprise Pavel Barbula – UAH 1.9 million.