Top Ukraine defence official held over multimillion-dollar fraud
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Prosecutors said the official, whose identity they did not reveal, had developed a system under which he bought artillery shells at inflated prices.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV – Police have arrested a senior Ukrainian Defence Ministry official suspected of embezzling €36 million (S$52 million) for the purchase of much-needed artillery shells in the war against Russia, officials said on Dec 22.
Prosecutors said that the official, whose identity they did not reveal, had developed a system under which he bought artillery shells at inflated prices.
“The director of one of the main Defence Ministry services has been placed in detention,” said the prosecutors’ statement.
Searches carried out at the suspect’s home had turned up documents confirming the scheme, it added.
Ukraine has had to deal with a series of corruption scandals
Investigators are already looking at the supply of sub-standard bulletproof vests and the purchase of food supplies and uniforms at inflated prices.
At the beginning of August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sacked all the officials in charge of military recruitment
The fight against corruption is one of the conditions that the European Union set as a condition for it to examine Ukraine’s application for membership.
European Union leaders agreed last week to open formal membership negotiations
The country has received tens of billions of euros in aid from the West since the start of the war. AFP
