The NABU and the SAPO exposed four individuals for the misappropriation of more than UAH 90 million during the procurement of drones.
According to the investigation, between February 2023 and April 2024, the leadership of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, together with a group of accomplices, organized a large-scale scheme to embezzle budget funds allocated for the procurement of drones for the Defense Forces.
When the state allocated UAH 30 billion for an experimental drone procurement project, the head of the relevant department joined forces with a businessman and his financial director to buy up the equipment at significantly inflated prices and misappropriate the difference.
The individuals in question are the head of the supply department of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, Volodymyr Mokrenko; a Special Communications official, Vadym Borsuk; as well as the head of the supplier company Ex Im Ukraine, Yurii Volian, and financial manager Serhii Horbatiuk.
The first stage of the scheme was carried out in May 2023, with the procurement of 400 DJI Mavic 3 drones. The contract listed a price of UAH 140,000 per unit, even though the real market value at the time was around UAH 78,000. Budget funds were transferred to a controlled firm, after which the individuals in the case marked up the price through a chain of fictitious contracts with their other companies and siphoned off the surplus money. On this procurement alone, the state overpaid more than UAH 21 million.
In September 2023, the members of the group carried out an even larger operation to procure 1,300 Autel drones. This time, they deliberately acquired new firms and arranged their registration with the Treasury. They inflated the price per drone to UAH 494,000, although the market price was almost half that — around UAH 254,000. To siphon off the profit obtained, the money was converted into foreign currency and transferred abroad to the accounts of companies in the USA, Poland, and Gibraltar under the guise of payment for goods. The total losses in this episode amounted to almost UAH 69 million.
In total, across the two stages of the manipulations, the budget lost more than UAH 90 million.
More about this scheme is available in a video from NABU.
The actions of the individuals in the case were classified under Article 191(5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
