HACC sent the former head of the Luhansk RSA Haidai and the owner of a drone production company into custody

The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) of Ukraine has remanded in custody former head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration (RSA) Serhii Haidai and the owner of a drone manufacturing company Marchenko. They are suspected of corruption in the procurement of drones and electronic warfare equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This is reported by NABU and SAPO.

Haidai was sentenced to 60 days in pre-trial detention with the possibility of bail of UAH 10 million. Marchenko was set at bail of UAH 15 million.

An MP from the “Servant of the People party” Oleksiy Kuznetsov, was also taken into custody on August 4. He was set a bail of UAH 8 million.

What preceded

On August 2, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office reported the discovery of a deal to purchase drones and electronic warfare equipment.

According to law enforcement officials, a sitting MP, heads of district and city military administrations, and National Guard soldiers were caught taking bribes. The defendants concluded state contracts with suppliers at deliberately inflated prices — up to 30% of the contract amount was returned to the businessmen, say the Bureauʼs employees. The commander of the National Guard removed from their positions the defendants in the NABU and SAPO corruption case.

The next day, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Serhii Haidai from the position of head of the Mukachevo RSA and Andriy Yurchenko from the position of head of the Rubizhna City Military Administration (CMA).

On August 4, law enforcement officers reported suspicions to six participants in the scheme, whose names were given to the media. They are:

• the former head of the Luhansk RSA Serhii Haidai;
• the MP from the "Servant of the People" Oleksiy Kuznetsov;
• the head of the Rubizhna CMA Andriy Yurchenko;
• the commander of a military unit of the National Guard;
• the owner and director of a drone manufacturing company.

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