The court released Liyev, former official of the Ministry of Defense, from custody. He is suspected of embezzling UAH 1.5 billion

The higher anti-corruption court released from custody the former official of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Liyev, who is a suspect in the case of embezzlement of 1.5 billion hryvnias for the purchase of ammunition for the Armed Forces.

This is reported by "Suspilne" with reference to lawyer Nazar Kulchytskyi.

"The court changed the preventive measure against Oleksandr Liev from detention to release. The court released him on personal recognizance and sent the decision to the SIZO," said the lawyer.

At the moment, the defense does not know whether Liev is at home, since the resolution does not provide for his presence at the time of release from arrest.

On February 12, the Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court took Liev into custody until April 8, including the right to post a bail of 50 million hryvnias.

What preceded

In November 2023 , hromadske released an investigation into the 2022 contract between the Ministry of Defense and Lviv Arsenal for the purchase of 100,000 mortar mines. The contract was for 1.3 billion hryvnias, and MOU paid almost 100% of the amount in advance. Ammunition was never delivered. The actual scheme of the agreement, according to journalists, was as follows: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine — Lviv Arsenal (Ukraine) — Sevotech (Slovakia) — WDG (Croatia) — Elmech Sintermak (Croatia). Sevotech was to transfer the money to WDG, and WDG was to buy ammunition from Elmech. However, Elmech stated that it did not receive the money. In the end, the money allegedly remained with Sevotech.

On January 26, 2024, it became known that the Ministry of Defense won a lawsuit against Lviv Arsenal, which was supposed to supply 100,000 ammunition for mortars. "Lviv Arsenal" must pay the MOU UAH 1,340,465,698 in advance payment, UAH 90,683,623.06 in penalties, and UAH 96,734,638 in fines for non-delivery of mines. As part of this case, the accounts and other movable and immovable property of the LLC were seized.

On January 27 , the SBU announced suspicions against five people for embezzling funds for the purchase of projectiles. The former and current heads of the Department of Military-Technical Policy, Development of Weapons and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defense (Olexandr Liev and Toomas Nakhkur), the head and commercial director of Lviv Arsenal, as well as their accomplice, a representative of a foreign commercial structure, received suspicion. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

Toomas Nahkur was removed from his duties on February 2, the same day the court imposed personal obligations on him.