The former Deputy Minister of Defence was served a notice of suspicion of embezzlement of public funds and obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces (Article 191(5) and Article 28(2)(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, in June 2022, in collusion with a subordinate of the interim acting director of the Department of Public Procurement and Supply of Material Resources, he created conditions for the purchase of military property without testing it in a laboratory, but only superficially - by its appearance. This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.
"This simplified form of acceptance of military property was later used by the Ministry to conclude contracts with a Turkish company for the supply of low-quality winter military clothing: windproof jackets and trousers for the Armed Forces of Ukraine that did not meet the technical specifications, for a total of about 1bn hryvnyas," the statement said.
As a result of the fulfilment of the terms of the contracts, public funds in particularly large amounts were transferred to the accounts of a Turkish company, and low-quality uniforms were supplied to the Armed Forces.
A subordinate of this deputy minister was also notified of a new suspicion. Until January 2023, Bohdan Khmelnytskyy served as the interim acting director of the Department of Public Procurement and Supply of Material Resources of the Ministry of Defence. He was fired amid a scandal over the purchase of food for the Armed Forces at inflated prices. Reznikov's deputy, who was responsible for the army's logistics, was Vyacheslav Shapovalov. According to the investigation, he lobbied for the conclusion of contracts for the supply of food for the military at inflated prices, as well as the purchase of bulletproof vests, helmets, clothing and other items for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of poor quality, totalling more than 1bn hryvnyas. All contracts were concluded on a full prepayment basis.
The purchase of unsuitable jackets from a Turkish company became public thanks to an investigation by ZN.UA journalists in August 2023. It turned out that the cost of one batch of 4,900 jackets for the army en route between Turkey and Ukraine had risen by about $300,000 - the shipment initially cost $142,000 and ended up costing $421,000. On the way to Ukraine, these simple camouflage jackets were documented as winter jackets.
In October-December 2022, Vector avia imported 233,000 jackets worth $20mn and another 202,000 trousers worth $13 million into Ukraine.
The ministry responded that the delivered products were accepted by the Armed Forces Logistics Forces "without any significant comments" on quality.
According to UP, one of the owners of the Turkish company that received $30 million for the scandalous purchase of military jackets for Ukrainian soldiers was the nephew of a member of the Servant of the People faction. This is 26-year-old Oleksandr Kasay, the nephew of MP Hennadiy Kasay, who is a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence.