Criminal schemes to steal 100 million hryvnias from the defense budget were exposed in the Odessa region (video)
In Odesa, military counter-intelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine together with the National Police exposed at once three criminal schemes of embezzlement of the defense budget, which caused losses to the state of almost 100 million hryvnias.
According to the investigation materials, the organizer of the crimes turned out to be a former commander of a separate battalion who, while in office, involved four of his subordinates, including two deputies, in illegal activities.
One of the schemes consisted in fictitious registration of local businessmen and acquaintances for service in the military unit, which made it possible to avoid mobilization. For this “service” they took up to 5 thousand dollars. In fact, these persons never appeared on the territory of the unit, instead, they transferred their salaries to the bank accounts of the command on a monthly basis. In addition, those involved in the case sold forged certificates of participants in hostilities, as well as sold fuel intended for the needs of military equipment.
All involved persons have been detained. During the searches, phones and bank cards with evidence of involvement in fraud were seized. The ex-battalion commander, deputy combatant, deputy from the rear, the head of the PMM and the company commander have already been notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, in particular, for misappropriation of property by an organized group, official forgery and abuse of influence. All of them are in custody, they face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The investigation is being conducted under the procedural guidance of the Odessa specialized prosecutor’s office in the field of defense of the Southern region.
