NABU detains four officials on suspicion of embezzling UAH 149 mln

The head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), Nazar Kholodnytsky, said this in a comment to the 112 Ukraine television channel.

"Detectives have detained two more people in this case," he said. 

However, the SAPO chief refused to name the new detainees.

Kholodnytsky said that the guilt of the deputy minister and the director of the department of public procurement had been confirmed by a special examination, the conclusions of which investigators were waiting for five months.

He also predicted that NABU detectives would complete the investigation into this case within four months.

The Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv will choose measures of restraint for the detainees on October 12. 

NABU detectives exposed a corruption scheme on the embezzlement of over UAH 149 million in state funds during the purchase of fuel for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. On October 11, 2017, detectives conducted a series of searches, during which they detained two individuals on suspicion of involvement in the crime - deputy defense minister and director of the department of public procurement and supply of material resources of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

According to investigators, in early 2016, the Defense Ministry's tender committee organized an open bidding procedure for the purchase of liquid fuel. Following the trade on April 26, 2016, the committee on 14 lots approved for payment the proposals of one of the bidders as most economically profitable. On May 13 and May 18, 2016, the Defense Ministry and the winner of the bidding signed 14 contracts for the supply of fuel for special purpose vehicles at the expense of the state budget for a total of over UAH 1 billion.

According to the results of a preliminary investigation, June-August 2016, with no legal grounds for amending the contracts for the procurement of goods for budgetary funds, the customer and supplier signed a number of additional agreements, unreasonably increasing the price per unit of goods by an average of 16% of the initial price.

Investigators believe that according to established facts, officials of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, in preliminary collusion with representatives of a commercial enterprise, committed a crime envisaged by Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement or possession of property through abuse of office).

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