NABU and SAPO reported suspicion to a former people’s deputy who was involved in the case of misappropriation of National Guard property, and to the former first deputy chief of the General Staff.
These officials and four other people are suspected of embezzling 307 million hryvnia from the Ministry of Defense.
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, in 2018, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine concluded contracts with companies controlled by the People’s Deputy of Ukraine for the construction of protected warehouses for storing missiles and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until 2021 for a total amount of approximately 3 billion hryvnia.
The people’s deputy planned to take possession of part of these funds. However, he was prevented from doing this by legislative restrictions, which allowed the Ministry of Defense to pay an advance in the amount of only 30% of the annual volume of work, NABU writes.
“In order to implement the criminal intention, the people’s deputy and his assistant, by involving officials of senior and senior officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ensured the adoption of changes to the resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers, which allowed the transfer of an advance for construction in the amount of 80% of the total cost of contracts.”– the message says.
As a result, during November-December 2018, the Ministry of Defense transferred more than UAH 307 million to the accounts of a company controlled by the deputy. However, the construction of the facility, which should strengthen the country’s defense capability, did not actually begin, and the allocated funds were transferred to the accounts of other controlled companies.
NABU does not name the names of the suspects, but RBC-Ukraine writes, citing sources in law enforcement agencies, that we are talking about ex-People’s Deputy Maxim Nikitas and ex-Deputy Chief of the General Staff Igor Kolesnik.
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The actions of the suspects are qualified under Part 5 of Art. 191 and part 2 of Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The issue of choosing a preventive measure for the suspect is being decided.
Let us remind you that Maxim Nikitas is currently a defendant in three different corruption cases.
In 2019, NABU informed Nikitas of suspicion of misappropriation of National Guard property. In 2020, he was informed of suspicion of ordering the kidnapping of a lawyer in Kyiv.
Last October, he was detained for offering a bribe for the participation of certain companies in the construction of the Dnieper metro. According to the Anti-Corruption Center, Nikitas was released from the pre-trial detention center on July 21 and must wear an electronic bracelet until November 8.
Source: Fakty
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