Losses of almost three billion hryvnias: law enforcement officers exposed a scheme to supply low-quality mines to the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The State Bureau of Investigation has stopped the activities of a criminal organization that seized almost 3 billion hryvnias of budget funds allocated for the purchase of mines for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The delivered anti-personnel and anti-tank mines turned out to be unusable or were not transferred at all under separate contracts.

This was reported by the press service of the State Bureau of Investigation.

According to the investigation, the members of the criminal organization created a fictitious appearance of the ability to manufacture and supply engineering munitions. To do this, they used a limited liability company that had not previously been involved in the production of mines, but had access to contracts from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with multi-billion advance payments.

To mislead military officials and representatives of military receptions, the defendants artificially inflated the company’s financial figures. At the end of 2022, they massively transferred funds between related structures, creating the appearance of significant turnover and financial stability.

In addition, the organizers of the scheme prepared technical and design documentation for the PVP-50 and PVP-200 anti-personnel mines, as well as the MPT-23P2 anti-tank mines. The documents deliberately contained false information, in particular regarding the types of fuses, the actual weight of the explosive devices, and the chemical composition of the explosives. They also mentioned tests that were allegedly conducted, which in fact either did not take place according to certain parameters, or had negative results.

The investigation found that these critical shortcomings were not properly taken into account by military officials who approved the documentation and concluded contracts. In particular, without justification, testing was approved only once every 5 years or after the production of 10 thousand units of products, which made proper quality control impossible.

As a result, 5 state contracts were concluded, under which over 2.9 billion hryvnias of advance funds were transferred to the company’s accounts. Some of the mines turned out to be unusable, as they did not work or did not have the declared damaging properties. Under some contracts, the products were not delivered, and the advances received were not returned.

It was also established that a significant part of the funds were used by the participants in the scheme for purposes other than their intended purpose. The money was directed to financial assistance to third parties, the purchase of equipment, placement in deposits, and other transactions with signs of legalization of illegally obtained income.

Thus, on January 8, within the framework of criminal proceedings, SBI officers conducted searches and detained 4 members of a criminal organization, including its organizer and heads of certain areas. They were informed of suspicion of embezzlement of funds in particularly large amounts, legalization of property obtained by criminal means, as well as creation and participation in a criminal organization. Another member of the group was put on the wanted list.

In addition, suspicion was reported to 4 military officials of military representations of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for deliberate failure to perform official duties, which led to serious consequences for the defense capability of the state. Suspicion was also declared to an official of a state enterprise, who allowed explosive devices to be equipped with substances of improper quality and with a weight lower than that provided for by the technical specifications.

Currently, petitions are being prepared for the court to impose preventive measures against all suspects. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.

We will remind you that in November 2024, servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received a low-quality batch of 120 mm mines produced by Ukroboronprom .

After the widely publicized case of defective 120-mm mines for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense began a thorough investigation into the incident. The supply of the specified ammunition batches was stopped, and criminal proceedings were initiated on the fact of the mines’ defects .

As reported, the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine, Herman Smetanin, stated that out of the batches totaling 54,000 mortar mines suspected of malfunctioning, about 24,000 mines are subject to return, which is less than 1% of the products produced in 2024.

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