The court seized the property of the family and controlled companies of Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevych, one of the largest suppliers of the Ministry of Defense. On December 29, 2023, he tried to bribe an investigator of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) — then he was detained.
Babel was informed about this by sources in the law enforcement agencies. Subsequently, SBI officially confirmed this information.
Business property was seized to compensate the state for damages. We are talking about real estate, premium cars owned by the businessmanʼs family, as well as property and accounts of companies controlled by him.
The experts established that all the products supplied by the businessmanʼs companies for the needs of the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2023 do not meet the quality characteristics and are impossible to use.
The case of the Hrynkevych family
A few months ago, the State Bureau of Investigation initiated criminal proceedings on the fact of the procurement of clothes and underwear for the Armed Forces. The Lviv businessmanʼs companies won 23 tenders for the supply of clothing to the Ministry of Defense for over UAH 1.5 billion.
The investigation established that enterprises under the control of the businessman were involved in the execution of defense orders, which were previously engaged in construction and did not have adequate production, warehouse and other capacities for the production and storage of tangible property for the needs of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. This led to budget losses, according to preliminary estimates, of UAH 1.2 billion and, accordingly, supply disruption.
Law enforcement officers also discovered complete non-fulfillment of six contracts. Under at least seven contracts, the enterprises delivered goods to the warehouses of military units only in small quantities, but received state funds for full fulfillment of obligations. Also, it was established that eight contracts were executed 3 to 5 months late.
In addition, the analysis of foreign economic contacts and customs documents of the mentioned enterprises revealed facts of overestimation of the cost of goods supplied to the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Currently, the involvement of former officials of the Ministry of Defense, who did not take any legal action to ensure the fulfillment or termination of contracts, is being investigated. According to preliminary estimates, the amount of damages may exceed one billion hryvnias.