Frauds with military humanitarian aid exposed in Kyiv

Searches are underway in the capital of Ukraine: a well-known chain of stores specializing in the sale of military goods is suspected of illegal use of humanitarian aid.

According to “UP”, referring to sources in the prosecutor’s office and the SBU, law enforcement officers exposed a scheme of fraud with military goods received as humanitarian aid. The founder and head of one of the capital’s chains of stores was suspected of their illegal use for profit during martial law. Names and titles are not given, but sources say that we are talking about the DiSI military agency.

As the investigation showed, in April of this year, the founder of this network and the leader turned to one of the Ukrainian military units of the National Guard in the capital. They asked to provide the enterprise with a certificate of the end user, in order to import military ammunition into the customs territory of Ukraine – protective helmets and armored plates for further free transfer of a military unit.

After receiving the certificate, the entrepreneurs imported cargo from Poland to Ukraine: 1,500 armored plates and 300 ballistic helmets. All ammunition was issued in the form of humanitarian aid, which eliminated customs formalities and, accordingly, the payment of customs duties to the state budget.

But if someone thinks that the free transfer of ammunition to the military unit followed, as follows from the terms of the contract, then they are deeply mistaken. According to law enforcement officers, the suspects refused to transfer this property to the needs of the defenders of Ukraine. They insisted on the conclusion of sales contracts and were ready to transfer humanitarian aid exclusively on a paid basis, at a retail price.

Imported helmets and armor plates were put up for sale through a chain of stores. Yesterday, law enforcement officers conducted eight authorized searches: at the warehouses of the enterprise, in stores and at the place of residence of the suspects.

Part of the military ammunition that they did not have time to sell, as well as rough notes and 120 thousand unregistered cartridges for firearms, were confiscated. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of imported military equipment is about 8 million hryvnia (at market value).

As part of the investigation, the involvement of the detainees in similar actions with military humanitarian aid is checked and the issue of choosing preventive measures is being decided. Those who want to get rich on blood face imprisonment of up to 7 years, according to SBU official website.

A pre-trial investigation is ongoing to establish all the circumstances of the offense and bring to justice all persons involved in the theft of property of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

The measures to expose the malefactors were carried out by employees of the Main Directorate for Counteracting Internal Threats to the Government of the SBU together with the State Bureau of Investigation and the procedural leadership of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.

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