kyiv announces that it has discovered a $40 million fraud in the purchase of arms

A large-scale embezzlement. The SBU, Ukraine’s main intelligence agency, revealed on the night of Saturday January 27 to Sunday January 28 that Ukrainian military officials and business leaders had embezzled 40 million dollars (36.8 million euros) in the context of an arms purchase. The embezzlement occurred in August 2022, six months after the Russian invasion of the country, as part of the purchase abroad of 100,000 mortar shells which were never delivered, according to the press release from the SBU.

The funds had in reality been embezzled by officials of the Ministry of Defense and the Lviv Arsenal company, mandated for the purchase, with the complicity of a foreign company, according to the same source. “A senior official of the Ministry of Defense and his predecessor, the director and sales manager of a Ukrainian company as well as the representative of a foreign company were served with a ‘notice of suspicion’specified the general prosecutor’s office.

One of the suspects is in custody after being arrested “during an attempt to leave Ukraine”, detailed the SBU. The investigation was carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, the SBU and the prosecutor’s office added.