Ex-Deputy Minister of Defense Shapovalov was declared another suspicion of the purchase of low-quality bulletproof vests for UAH 250 million

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) declared another suspicion to the former Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov and the former head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense for the alleged embezzlement of over 250 million hryvnias on the purchase of low-quality body armor.

This was reported by the press service of SBI.

According to the investigation, they gave a 100% advance payment for the body armor and violated the product quality control procedure. SBI states that the bulletproof vests were unsuitable for use in combat, which posed a threat to the lives of servicemen. Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code — embezzlement of property with abuses in particularly large amounts in the conditions of martial law. This is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.

"This is another episode of the exposed illegal equipment of the expositors, the total amount of which is 1.4 billion hryvnias," SBI added, recalling that Shapovalov had already received suspicion for contracts for the supply of low-quality ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine for over a billion hryvnias.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) handed this suspicion to him and the former head of the Department of State Procurement of the Ministry of Defense Bohdan Khmelnytskyi in June of this year.

The investigators also claimed that Shapovalov and Khmelnytskyi bought almost 3 000 low-quality bulletproof vests for over 130 million hryvnias from a foreign company, misappropriating over 100 million of this amount. They are suspects in the scheme for the purchase of low-quality winter jackets and pants for 900 million hryvnias and the purchase of products at inflated prices.

Currently, Shapovalov and Khmelnytskyi are in the pretrial detention center.