The former director of “Lviv Arsenal” was sent to custody in the case of an unfulfilled defense contract

The Appellate Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) sent Yuriy Zbitnev, the former director of Lviv Arsenal LLC, to custody.

The press service of the chamber writes about it.

The Appeals Chamber canceled the previous decision of the HACC judge to refuse to extend the term of detention and issued a new decision to take Zbitnev into custody with the possibility of paying a bail of 30 million hryvnias.

He was taken into custody in the courtroom.

What is known about the case

In November 2023, hromadske released an investigation into the 2022 contract between the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and Lviv Arsenal for the purchase of 100 000 mortar mines. The contract was for 1.3 billion hryvnias, and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine paid almost 100% of the amount in advance. Ammunition was never delivered.

According to journalists, the actual scheme of the agreement was as follows: the 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 MOD 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.

Within the framework of this case, Yuriy Zbitnev is suspected of appropriating someone elseʼs property and abusing his official position (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

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