Ukraine has uncovered a corruption scheme involving staff of a neighborhood arms producer and Defense Ministry officers to embezzle virtually $40 million.
The fund was earmarked to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the conflict with Russia, Ukraine’s safety service reported Saturday.
The SBU mentioned that 5 folks have been charged, with one individual detained whereas making an attempt to cross the Ukrainian border. If discovered responsible, they resist 12 years in jail.
The investigation comes as Kyiv makes an attempt to clamp down on corruption in a bid to hurry up its membership within the European Union and NATO. Officials from each blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms earlier than Kyiv can be part of them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2019, lengthy earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Both the president and his aides have portrayed the latest firings of high officers, notably that of Ivan Bakanov, former head of the State Security Service, in July 2022, as proof of their efforts to crack down on graft.
Security officers say that the present investigation dates again to August 2022, when officers signed a contract for artillery shells price 1.5 billion hryvnias ($39.6 million) with arms agency, Lviv Arsenal.
After receiving cost, firm staff have been alleged to switch the funds to a business registered overseas, which might then ship the ammunition to Ukraine.
However, the products have been by no means delivered and the cash was as a substitute despatched to numerous accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators mentioned.
Ukraine’s prosecutor normal says that the funds have since been seized and will likely be returned to the nation’s protection price range.
Source: www.dailysabah.com