Employees of a Ukrainian arms manufacturing firm have been accused of conspiring with defense ministry officials to embezzle nearly $40 million intended to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war against Russia.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced late last night that five people had been charged and that one person had been arrested while trying to cross the Ukrainian border.
If found guilty, they face up to 12 years in prison.
The investigation comes as Kyiv tries to crack down on corruption in an attempt to speed up its integration into the European Union and NATO. Officials from both blocs demanded broad anti-corruption reforms.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2019, well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both the president and his aides have portrayed recent firings of top officials, notably Ivan Bakanov, the former head of the State Security Service, as evidence of their efforts to suppress corruption.
Security officials say the current investigation dates back to August 2022, when officials signed a contract for artillery shells worth 1.5 billion hryvnias ($39.6 million) with the Lviv Arsenal arms company.
After the payment, the company’s employees were supposed to transfer the funds to a company registered abroad, which would then deliver the ammunition to Ukraine.
However, the goods were never delivered, but the money was sent to various accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators said. Ukraine’s chief prosecutor says the funds have since been confiscated and will be returned to the country’s defense budget.
