NABU is delaying its investigation into possible overpricing of drones for the State Special Communications Service
NABU is investigating a criminal case regarding the possible misappropriation of public funds during the procurement of drones for the State Special Communications Service in 2023. The case involves procurements linked to “Zakhyst ta Okhorona Service” LLC, as well as materials from the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) concerning representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Defense, and the leadership of the State Special Communications Service.
However, as Absolution Leaks reports, NABU is in fact in no hurry to investigate the criminal case involving the overpricing of drones by Ajax Systems owner Oleksandr Konotopskyi (Case No. 52023000000000600).
The case includes NSRD materials concerning Mykhailo Fedorov, Oleksandr Bornyakov (Ministry of Digital Transformation), Oleksii Vyskub (Ministry of Defense), and the leadership of the State Special Communications Service.
The case concerns the embezzlement of state budget funds on an especially large scale and the laundering of property obtained by criminal means (Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). NABU detectives are investigating the procurement by the Supply Department of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine of two batches of drones in 2023.
According to the investigation, “Zakhyst ta Okhorona Service” LLC (Yuriy Volyan / Serhiy Horbatyuk) supplied:
- 400 DJI Mavic 3 systems at a price of 140,000 UAH per unit (total amount: 56 million UAH). According to the investigation, the market value of similar drones at that time ranged from 43,000 to 100,000 UAH, so the overpricing is estimated at least at 15.9 million UAH;
- 1,300 Autel EVO Max 4T systems. The initial price was 494,000 UAH per unit (642.2 million UAH), but it was later reduced. Investigators believe that even after the reduction, the price remained inflated by approximately 64.7 million UAH.
According to the prosecution, the total damage to the budget amounts to approximately 80.6 million UAH. In addition, after receiving funds from the State Special Communications Service, the company transferred $6.6 million to the Polish company Legal Group SP Z O.O., from which a portion of the funds was transferred to the accounts of three companies in Mauritius. Investigators are examining whether these entities were used to artificially inflate prices and subsequently siphon off funds.
Detectives Aznavour Sevyan and Andriy Denisyuk, who worked on the case at different times, resigned due to sabotage of the investigations and the leak of materials from the National Security and Defense Council regarding the Konotopsky-Fedorov case.
Source: Absolution Leaks
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