The State Bureau of Investigation exposed a large -scale scheme of theft of budget funds related to the purchase of food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the Center of the Scheme - officials of the Ministry of Defense, the State Enterprise "DOT" and private business, which together "have mastered" more than UAH 1.54 billion on the supply of low quality food at inflated prices.
According to the investigation, on March 10, 2024, bypassing transparent tenders, two "manual" contracts were concluded with Busk Canning Plant LLC for a total amount of UAH 1.48 billion. The officials explained this with no proposals on Prozorro. However, the cost of a unit of production - UAH 113.76 without VAT - was substantially overstated, and the plant itself did not have the technical capacity to provide delivery.
Problems arose at once: the products did not reach, or were lower than those indicated in the documents, and sometimes they were replaced by cheaper counterparts. Laboratory tests confirmed that the products did not meet DSTU standards and specifications.
Nevertheless, in May and December 2024, the head of SE "DOT" Arsen Zhudilov concluded new agreements with the supplier for UAH 5.82 billion. Some of them have already been paid - 1.54 billion are transferred to the company's accounts. The agreement of December 16 provided for the purchase of more than 21 million grocery sets for UAH 112.40 each.
Each contract was accompanied by 1 to 8 additional transactions, which allowed to change the terms of supply and manipulate prices. The DBR recorded at least four ways that budget was withdrawn:
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Weight loss of product kits.
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Delivery of poor quality products.
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The substitution of goods cheaper by counterparts.
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Catalog manipulations - hundreds of positions were stated, and only a few were supplied.
Despite the 176 violations recorded in August 2024, the State Enterprise "DOT" did not take any measures - neither penalties nor termination of the contract.
Further-more: according to the investigation, through fictitious transactions with gaskets ("Maki-Trade", "Frutland", "Initiative Plus" and others) "Busk Canned Plant" formed a tax credit by UAH 54.6 million, evading taxes.
The scheme was the partner of the famous businessman Igor Grinkevich - Alexander Lapshin, along with his relatives. Later, the company was reissued for a resident of Zhytomyr region.
The State Audit Service has started monitoring only after publicity, but there is still no reaction from the Defense Ministry's management.
