Ex-Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov was handed a new charge — this is already the third one

Former Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov was handed a new suspicion of embezzlement of almost a billion hryvnias on the purchase of body armor.

This was reported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The head of the Department of State Procurement and Supply of Material Resources of the Ministry of Defense and the former head of the Material Support Development Department of the Central Department for the Development and Support of Material Support of the Armed Forces were also suspected.

According to the investigation, during martial law, the suspects purchased 50 000 body armor for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which in terms of quality and characteristics did not meet the established requirements and could not be used in the army. Body armor was purchased from a non-resident company, the ultimate beneficial owners of which are citizens of the Russian Federation.

This "purchase" caused losses to the state of 948 million hryvnias. They face up to 15 years in prison.

• Currently, two of the suspects are in custody as part of other criminal proceedings. Vyacheslav Shapovalov and the former acting director of the Department of Public Procurement of the Ministry of Defense Bohdan Khmelnytskyi were previously charged with purchasing low-quality bulletproof vests for over 230 million hryvnias, winter jackets and pants for 900 million hryvnias, and purchasing products at inflated prices. The third suspect is wanted.