Eggs for 17 UAH: NABU and SAPO complete investigation into the case

NABU and SAPO have opened materials on a high-profile case of fraud in the supply of food to the Ukrainian army. Investigators found that companies earned excess profits by manipulating prices in a special catalog.

This is stated in the NABU report.

According to the investigation, in 2022-2023, products for the Armed Forces were purchased in sets from a catalog containing 409 items. At the same time, only about 10% of them were actually used by the military – these are vegetables, cereals, meat and water. The cost of the set was calculated from the average price of all goods, which allowed to overestimate the price of popular products and underestimate it for unnecessary or seasonal ones.

“At first glance, there were no violations, and the price of the set did not change. However, potatoes, which were supplied in thousands of tons, were sold at a triple price, and seasonal berries and fruits, which were almost never ordered, cost a penny,” the NABU report says.

Thanks to this scheme, two companies owned by the same owner received illegal profits of UAH 733 million in August-December 2022 alone. Part of these funds were taken abroad under the guise of dividends and financial assistance to related structures.

“The owner of the companies could have spent this money on the purchase of hotels in Croatia and other real estate. The circumstances of the acquisition of such assets are currently being investigated,” the NABU added.

The defendants in the case are a former head of a department at the Ministry of Defense, the owner of the supplier companies, two of their managers, and a number of other individuals. All of them are accused of embezzlement of budget funds and legalization of illegal income.

The bureau recalled that after the investigation began in January 2023 and high-profile publications in the media, including about the purchase of eggs for 17 UAH, suppliers reduced prices for 11 basic products. This saved the budget another 788 million UAH.

It was previously reported that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine purchased at least 179,400 eggs at a price of 17 hryvnias per piece under a contract with Aktiv Company.

As a reminder, the NV Business publication wrote that Tetyana Hlynyana, a food supplier for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who sold eggs to the Ministry of Defense for 17 hryvnias apiece, turned out to be the owner of four hotels in the Croatian resort town of Split.

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