Bohdan Khmelnytskyy, former acting director of the Department of Public Procurement and Supply of Material Resources of the defence ministry, and Vyacheslav Shapovalov, deputy defence minister, have been served with new suspicion notices, reports the Prosecutor General's Office.
According to the investigation, during the martial law, the suspects organised the purchase of low-quality bulletproof vests for more than 250mn hryvnas allocated from the state budget. They ordered these personal protective equipment abroad. All contracts were concluded on a full prepayment basis.
It is noted that the former officials ignored the need to ensure proper quality control of products and purchased ammunition at inflated prices.
The suspects forced their subordinates to accept low-quality products at military warehouses. They also organised repeated tests of armor plates that failed the initial tests.
According to the conclusions of the examinations, this ammunition does not meet the requirements of class IV body armor and cannot properly protect Ukrainian servicemen.
The suspects are charged with embezzlement and obstruction of the legitimate activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Part 5 of Art. 191 and Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 114-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
It is reported that as a result of the illegal actions of the suspects, certain units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not properly equipped with personal protective equipment worth more than 1.4bn.
The suspects are currently in custody.