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Staff from a Ukrainian arms agency conspired with protection ministry officers to embezzle nearly $40 million earmarked to purchase 100,000 mortar shells for the struggle with Russia, Ukraine’s safety service reported.
The SBU stated late Saturday that 5 folks have been charged, with one particular person detained whereas attempting to cross the Ukrainian border. If discovered responsible, they resist 12 years in jail.
The investigation comes as Kyiv makes an attempt to clamp down on corruption in a bid to hurry up its membership within the European Union and NATO. Officers from each blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms earlier than Kyiv can be a part of them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2019, lengthy earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Each the president and his aides have portrayed the current firings of high officers, notably that of Ivan Bakanov, former head of the State Safety Service, in July 2022, as proof of their efforts to crack down on graft.
Safety officers say that the present investigation dates again to August 2022, when officers signed a contract for artillery shells value 1.5 billion hryvnia ($39.6 million) with arms agency Lviv Arsenal.
After receiving fee, firm workers have been speculated to switch the funds to a enterprise registered overseas, which might then ship the ammunition to Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the products have been by no means delivered, and the cash was as a substitute despatched to varied accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators stated.
Ukraine’s prosecutor normal says that the funds have since been seized and might be returned to the nation’s protection price range.
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