Five defense officials are being probed in connection with a purchase of substandard bulletproof vests for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“The declaration of suspicions only began today. As of today, five suspicions have been declared. All suspects are high-ranking defense officials: the head of the main directorate, his two deputies, and two heads of department,” Roman Truba, the director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI), said in Kyiv on Nov. 5.
All five are suspected of “inaction by military authorities committed by a group of accomplices.”
Seventy-nine out of 100 vests can be pierced by a firearm they are supposed to protect against, Truba said.
A spokesperson for the Prosecutor General’s Office said: “According to the inquiry, from April to June 2019, an official from the main directorate for army procurement, probably acting intentionally, conspired with four other people from the ministry and, contrary to the interests of the service , failed to undertake activities they were supposed to undertake, leading to a purchase of poor-quality Corsar MZs1-4 bulletproof vests, in the amount of 11,000 units, worth in total about Hr 100 million.”
The preliminary inquiry continues, the question of whether the five suspects should be detained is being decided, the spokesperson said.
