In the Poltava region, the ESBU detectives exposed a group of individuals who appropriated over 5 million UAH during procurement for military needs

 Detectives from the Territorial Office of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine in the Poltava region have served a notice of suspicion to the director of a company and officials of the city council. They are suspected of misappropriating budget funds allocated for procurement for defense needs.

The investigation established that in 2023, a city council department purchased 70 satellite phones for the military for over 13 million UAH. According to detectives, the director and chief specialist of the department acted in collusion with the head of the supplier company. They artificially inflated the cost of the equipment to obtain illegal profit. As a result of these actions, the local budget suffered losses in the amount of over 5 million UAH.

Furthermore, one of the officials, knowing that the satellite phones had not actually been delivered, entered false data regarding the transfer of the equipment to the customer. This allowed the full amount of funds to be transferred to the supplier company without grounds.

The actions of the individuals involved have been classified under Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 2 of Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position for the purpose of obtaining any unlawful benefit for a legal entity, which resulted in grave consequences, committed by a group of persons upon prior conspiracy), as well as under Part 2 of Art. 28, Part 1 of Art. 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (drawing up and issuing knowingly false official documents).

The investigation is ongoing. Motions have been submitted to the court to select pre-trial detention measures for the suspects.

Operational support is being provided by the SSU Office in the Poltava region and the Strategic Investigations Department in the Poltava region of the DSR of the National Police of Ukraine. Procedural guidance is being carried out by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Field of Defense of the Central Region.