The NABU and the SAPO accuse former MP Maksym Mykytas and five other individuals of misappropriating more than UAH 312 million of the Ministry of Defense's funds under contracts for the construction of arms depots.

According to the prosecution, in 2018, the Ministry of Defense signed contracts with companies controlled by former director of Ukrbud, Maksym Mykytas, who was then a Member of Ukrainian Parliament. The contracts concerned the construction of missile and ammunition storage facilities for the Armed Forces of Ukraine by 2021, with a value of about UAH 3 billion.

At that time, the Ministry of Defense could pay an advance of no more than 30% of the annual volume of work. According to the investigation, with the assistance of Armed Forces service members, Mykytas and his assistant succeeded in getting amendments adopted to a Cabinet of Ministers resolution that allowed for a construction advance to be transferred in the amount of 80% of the total value of the contracts.

Later, in November–December 2018, UAH 312 million was transferred to the accounts of companies connected to Mykytas. However, the construction of the depots never began, and the funds then ended up in the accounts of other companies.

In addition to Mykytas, the case involves:

● Serhii Yakusevych — the former assistant to former MP Maksym Mykytas;

● Mykola Yemanov — the former director of Ukrbudmontazh LLC;

● Ihor Kolesnyk — the former first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

● Mykola Shvets — the former head of the Central Directorate for the Security of Military Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

● Volodymyr Zaiets — the deputy head of the Central Directorate for the Security of Military Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The actions of Mykytas and the others were classified under Article 191(5) and Article 209(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Besides this case, Mykytas is a defendant in the case concerning the bribery of Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov and in the case concerning the construction of apartments for the National Guard and the embezzlement of UAH 81 million (together with Serhii Yakusevych). He also received notices of suspicion in the case concerning raiding and the posting of bail for a defendant in the Midas case, in the case concerning the embezzlement of funds during the construction of the Centralized Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility, and in the case concerning a bribe for Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman. Read more about each of these cases in our material.