Ukraine announces bust of $40 million in arms procurement corruption scandal

Maria Kostenko, Alex Stambaugh, Christian Edwards, CNN

(CNN) — The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) weapons The total amount spent by the country’s military is around $40 million (1.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnia).

The SBU said the embezzlement included the purchase of 100,000 mortar shells for the Ukrainian army in the fall of 2022.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense paid almost all of the funds to arms supplier Lviv Arsenal, but the SBU said no ammunition was received. Instead, it said some of the funds were transferred to accounts overseas, including in the Balkans.

The investigation revealed that former and current senior defense officials, the head and commercial director of the Lviv Arsenal, and representatives of foreign commercial groups were involved in the fraud.

Yuri Zvitnev, CEO of the Lviv Arsenal, told local media that the head of the ammunition contract had been fired and that the company was working with the Ministry of Defense to divert the funds so that they could be used for more appropriate purposes. “We are returning it to the government,” he said. ”

The SBU announced that five people had been indicted, including one former Defense Ministry employee who was detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. The newspaper said authorities were working to detain other suspects and that the suspects charged could face up to 12 years in prison.

“The Ministry of Defense continues to fight uncompromisingly against those who embezzle arms procurement. We have no place for corrupt officials,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Dmytro Klymenkov said in a statement on Saturday. .

Ukraine has been plagued by corruption scandals involving its Ministry of Defense in recent years.

In December, a senior Ukrainian Ministry of Defense official said: detained In a separate case involving shell contracts, he is suspected of embezzling 1.5 billion hryvnia ($40 million).

The report comes just months after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed all heads of regional military recruitment centers. In September, Mr. Zelensky also fired At the time, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov spoke of the need for a “new approach” as the scandal continued.

CNN reported in December that Mr. Zelenskyy was facing. Increased pressure from the US Do more to fight corruption in the Ukrainian government. Officials said the U.S. government sent several notices to Kiev saying that some types of economic aid would be tied to progress in Ukraine’s institutional reforms.