On October 30, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) chose a preventive measure for a suspect in the case of embezzlement of funds using drones for the Ukrainian military.
This was reported by the press service of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
The suspect was immediately taken into custody in the courtroom. As an alternative, the court set bail at over UAH 12 million.
If bail is posted, the suspect is required to appear at the first request of investigators and prosecutors, not to leave Lviv without permission, report any change in his place of residence or work, refrain from communicating with people specified in the judgeʼs ruling, and surrender his international passport.
The defendant will be in custody until December 28, 2025, inclusive.
Two officials of the State Special Communications Service and two representatives of private companies were suspected of embezzlement of state funds on a particularly large scale in this case.
What preceded
On October 28, NABU and SAPO exposed a scheme to embezzle funds for the purchase of drones for the Ukrainian military.
According to the investigation, after the State Service for Special Communications received UAH 30 million in 2023 for the purchase of drones, one of the departmentʼs leaders decided to embezzle part of this money.
He made agreements with representatives of several private companies to sell drones at artificially inflated prices. For appearance, they held fictitious tenders with shell companies that only created the illusion of competition.
As a result, from May to September 2023, the State Service for Special Communications purchased 400 DJI Mavic 3 drones and 1 300 Autel Evo Max 4T drones. They were purchased at prices that were 70-90% higher than market prices.
As a result, the state lost over UAH 90 million. Part of the money was transferred by the participants of the scheme to the accounts of controlled companies, including foreign ones.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.