Ukrainian officials stole nearly $40 million meant for procurement of ammunition in an embezzlement scheme discovered in December 2023, Ukrainian counterintelligence authorities said Thursday.
An unnamed directorate head in Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) allegedly was at the head of the scheme that illegally transferred almost UAH 1.5 billion (USD 39 million) meant to purchase artillery shells for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to foreign accounts of an MoD-affiliated intermediary company, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) said in a statement.
“This amount was 30% higher than the value of an alternative contract concluded by the newly created Defense Procurement Agency,” the statement read in part.
The stolen funds were state funds, the SSU noted in the statement. The SSU together with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the MoD reportedly uncovered the scheme, recovered the funds, and returned them to the state budget.
The official and other accused persons were arrested with the MoD’s help and face 15 years in prison, the SSU said.
The fraudulent transaction — meant for 100,000 mortar shells that were never supplied — occurred during the former Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov’s tenure, the Washington Post reported. Those allegedly involved in the scheme include Oleksandr Liev, who was the head of the Department of Military-Technical Policy, Development of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense; the current head of this department, Toomas Nakhkur; and the head of the arms supplier Lviv Arsenal, Yuriy Zbitnev, according to the report, citing an unnamed security service official. (RELATED: Biden Admin Begs Ukraine To Get Serious About Cutting Corruption)
The Ukrainian government had previously uncovered other military procurement-related corruption scandals leading to sackings and arrests. It also had sought to convince a seemingly beleaguered international community to continue funding its war with Russia’s invading army.
Ukraine insisted it has been making firm anti-graft efforts in response to concerns that the country could be a black hole for Western aid as it defends itself against Russian aggression, the Washington Post report added.
Most Ukrainian citizens know at least one Ukrainian military service member and regularly donate their own money toward the purchase of military weapons and supplies, making corruption a sensitive issue in the country, the report noted.