The higher anti-corruption court (HACC) imposed a preventive measure on the director of "Lviv Arsenal" Yury Zbitnev in the form of house arrest.
This was reported by HACC press service.
He was forbidden to leave the residence specified in the decision from 12:00 noon to 8:00 a.m., he must hand in his foreign passports, refrain from communicating with persons identified by the investigation, and wear an electronic bracelet.
The prosecutor asked to appoint a guard with a bail of more than UAH 268 million. The defense asked not to appoint a preventive measure at all or to appoint a house arrest for 20 hours, respectively: from 12 oʼclock in the afternoon to 8 oʼclock in the morning the next day.
According to the investigation, Yuriy Zbitnev was responsible for:
- concluding a contract with a Slovak intermediary, the Sevotech company;
- sending a commercial offer to the Ministry of Defense, signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense for 100 000 mines and an additional agreement to it;
- sending the letters necessary for their conclusion and prepayment, as well as in the subsequent transfer of 35% of the paid prepayment to the accounts of the Sevotech company.
What is known about the case
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.
- According to Art. 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until his guilt is proven by legal procedure and established by a court verdict.