Satellite phones for the military with a USD 5 million overpayment

 In Poltava, a scheme for the embezzlement of budget funds during the procurement of satellite phones for the needs of the defense forces has been uncovered. According to the investigation, the participants of the scam misappropriated over UAH 5 million through the artificial inflation of the equipment's cost.

Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Poltava region established that in 2023, one of the departments of the city council purchased 70 satellite phones for a total amount of over UAH 13 million.

The director and the chief specialist of the department, in conspiracy with the head of the supplier company, intentionally established an inflated cost for the equipment to obtain an unlawful benefit. As a result of these actions, the local budget suffered over UAH 5 million in damages.

In addition, another chief specialist of the department, also in conspiracy with the director of the supplier company, signed documents regarding the alleged transfer of the phones to the customer, although at that time the equipment had not actually even been purchased yet. However, the executed documents became the basis for transferring the full amount of funds to the enterprise's account.

After receiving the budget money, the head of the supplier company transferred the funds to the accounts of several enterprises within two days. Part of the funds was used to purchase the phones, while the rest was laundered through other financial operations.

The actions of the city council officials have been classified under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364, and Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine—abuse of office for the purpose of obtaining any unlawful benefit for a legal entity, which caused grave consequences, and the compilation and issuance of knowingly false official documents, committed by a group of persons upon prior conspiracy.

The head of the supplier company has been notified of suspicion under all the aforementioned articles, as well as under Part 1 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (legalization of property obtained by criminal means).

To ensure compensation for the damages caused to the local budget, the suspect's property has been seized.

The pre-trial investigation has been concluded. The indictments have been forwarded to the court.

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

In accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict of guilty.