In Odesa, law enforcement officers detained Roman Hrynkevich, the son of Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevich, who is considered the fifth member of a criminal organization responsible for supplying the Armed Forces of Ukraine with low-quality clothing worth 1 billion hryvnias. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced this during a briefing.
According to the results of the investigation, the younger Hrynkevich arrived in Odesa around January 17 and planned to leave Ukraine, preparing to cross the border illegally. On January 19, the court, responding to the request of prosecutors, issued permission for his detention. Currently, the issue of choosing a preventive measure is being considered.
Oleksiy Sukhachev, director of the SBI, added that Roman Hrynkevich tried to arrange an illegal crossing of the border of Ukraine for further hiding in one of the countries of the European Union.
The director of the DBR also emphasized that the father of Roman Hrynkevich, who is a private entrepreneur, became the object of suspicion in the specified criminal case related to the organization of a group that illegally appropriated budget funds.
Members of this criminal organization concluded agreements with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of military clothing. However, according to the results of the examination, the supplied goods did not meet the technical requirements of the agreements due to their low quality. The losses for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from these operations amount to over 934 million hryvnias.
The other four suspects in this criminal proceeding are in custody.
Ihor Hrynkevich received two suspicions, the first of which was announced back in December 2023. This was related to the episode in which he was accused of trying to give a $500,000 bribe to one of the heads of the SBI.
The second suspicion is related to the creation of a criminal organization. The representatives of the DBR claim that the entrepreneur "founded a criminal organization for the misappropriation of budget funds" by concluding agreements with the Ministry of Defense for the supply of low-quality military clothing. According to them, this led to losses for the budget of Ukraine amounting to over a billion hryvnias.
After the scandals arose, the Ministry of Defense decided to terminate agreements with companies related to the Hrynkevich family, which are one of the main suppliers. Roman Hrynkevich, the son of a businessman, expressed his belief that his family's activities were within the limits of legislation.
It is known that the son is formally the owner of a company that had contracts with the Ministry of Defense, while his father had already left the formal ownership of enterprises earlier.
