Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has ordered the preventive detention of a company director allegedly involved in a scheme to purchase military drones and electronic warfare (EW) equipment at inflated prices on Tuesday.
The current case also involved a sitting lawmaker, local officials and military personnel. HACC was established in 2019 as a part of Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption ecosystem, functioning as the judicial forum to rule over high-profile corruption cases.
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According to HACC’s Tuesday press release, the unnamed director was ordered to a 60-day detention with the option of a Hr.2 million ($47,880) bail.
“A preventive measure has been applied to the director of an LLC [limited liability company], a suspect in the case of the purchase of UAVs and electronic warfare equipment,” it said.
Bail conditions include mandatory appearances when summoned, a travel ban outside Kyiv and its region without permission, notification of any change in residence or employment, no contact with specified individuals, surrender of travel documents, and wearing an electronic monitoring device, according to the HACC.
The director is suspected of committing multiple criminal offenses, namely embezzling large sums of money as part of a group conspiracy and of interfering with the operations of Ukraine’s military during wartime.
The head of a military unit involved in the case was also served a detention order until Sept. 30, also with the option of a Hr.2 million bail, according to another HACC press release on Tuesday.
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What is the case about?
On Saturday, Aug. 2, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies announced they had uncovered a scheme involving the purchase of drones and EW equipment at inflated prices, implicating a sitting lawmaker, two local officials, and several members of the National Guard.
“The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier enterprises at knowingly inflated prices – up to 30% of the contract amount was returned to the participants in the crime in the form of ill-gotten gains,” said a press release by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on Saturday.
NABU serves as an independent investigative body, similar to the National Police, for high-profile corruption cases in Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also referenced the case in a social media update.
“One of the people’s deputies of Ukraine, as well as heads of district and city administrations, and servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine were exposed for taking bribes. I am grateful to the anti-corruption bodies for their work,” Zelensky wrote on Saturday.
“There can only be zero tolerance for corruption,” he added.
The case followed Zelensky’s earlier decision to introduce – and later reverse – bills that strip the anti-graft agencies of their independence, sparking nationwide protests. Both NABU and Zelensky referred to the incident in their updates.
“It should be noted that this operation was made possible by Law No. 4560-IX, signed by the President of Ukraine, which removed a number of barriers in the work of anti-corruption bodies and contributed to the stability of their activities in sensitive investigations for the state,” NABU wrote.
“It is important that anti-corruption institutions work independently, and the law adopted on Thursday guarantees them all the opportunities for a real fight against corruption,” Zelensky wrote.
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