“The case of low-quality machine guns for the Armed Forces: the SBI revealed new details. Due to fraud, the state budget lost 193 million hryvnias, and weapons turned out to be dangerous for the military.”, — write on: unn.ua
UNN wrote that the investigation concerns the former head of the Department of Military Policy, Development of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense Oleksandr Liev.
“Currently, we expect that in the near future he (the expositor of the Ministry of Defense – ed.) will be given a preventive measure as part of this criminal proceeding, and of course, everything related to our national security, the provision of the Armed Forces, is under the jurisdiction of the SBU, regardless of when this crime was committed – at the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Russia or it is happening now. But the SBI is doing everything to catch those who try to profit from the machinations and devices connected with the supply to the army,” said the advisor.
She noted that this is not just one such criminal proceeding.
“Currently, we are talking about the fact that in 2022 these expositors of the Ministry of Defense and two heads of state-owned enterprises faced the task of putting 400 certified large-caliber machine guns on the front. However, as it turned out, instead of high-quality weapons, cheap analogues got to the front, and only half of that , which was declared. That is, only half of what we are talking about – 200 purchased machine guns,” Sapyan noted.
She added that the machine guns were purchased with state funds. They did not have, as it turned out, any markings, did not have appropriate technical documentation and did not have any accompanying documents. And during the battles, as the servicemen themselves have already told, such weapons were unable to conduct continuous fire.
As a result of relevant examinations and audits, it was established that the state budget suffered losses of UAH 193 million, and the condition of the machine guns themselves increased the threat to the lives of Ukrainian defenders even more.
“From the interesting facts in this criminal proceeding, that is, we already understand that the declared suspicion of the expositors of the Ministry of Defense is the embezzlement of property by abuse of official position,” Sapian added.
According to her, the investigation began in 2023. The SBI reported that it is open to military personnel and citizens who discover facts of corruption or offenses, and noted that in this case it was the military that applied. Also in 2023, criminal proceedings were opened, and investigators conducted weapons examinations, which required more time, since the machine guns were located in different parts of Ukraine. The investigation is ongoing, and the case will go to court only after the full collection of evidence.
We will remind
Liev received a new suspicion in the case of low-quality shells for the Armed Forces. Earlier, he was suspected of embezzling almost 1.5 billion hryvnias in a scheme involving officials of the Ministry of Defense and managers of the Lviv Arsenal during the purchase of ammunition.