Former Defense Ministry official to stand trial for organizing corruption scheme involving billions in abuse
As part of an investigation released by the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation, the court received material regarding the former acting head of the procurement department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who is accused of abuse of office and illegal schemes that led to budget losses of hundreds of millions of hryvnias. According to various sources, this is Maksym Hrytsenko, who is currently in custody in a pre-trial detention center, and the charges relate to his participation in potential abuse of office and helping the family of Lviv businessman Hrynkevich to obtain billions in profits from state military needs. The context of the case shows that back in 2023, the Ministry of Defense concluded a number of contracts with Lviv companies worth more than 1.5 billion hryvnias for the supply of military clothing and equipment. However, already during the signing of the contracts, it became known that these companies did not have the necessary production capacities or agreements with other firms for timely and high-quality execution of orders. This caused a surge in calls and fines, which usually significantly reduce the opportunities for abuse during the execution of government orders. In the scenario that is currently appearing in the criminal proceedings, figures from the Ministry of Defense, in particular, the acting director of the relevant department, responsible for managing contractual obligations, abused their official position. According to preliminary data from the investigation, he unreasonably and without reason concluded additional agreements that significantly extended the terms of execution of already completed contracts. This made it possible to reduce the accrued penalties for violation of delivery deadlines from almost 98 million hryvnias to 4.5 million — that is, by 93.5 million hryvnias. Such a "change" in contractual obligations actually became a scheme that allowed reducing state sanctions and pouring additional funds into private pockets at the expense of state budget resources. The investigation established that in 2023, using his official position, the former official helped the Hrynkevich family to draw up financial schemes that were profitable for them, which allowed them to receive up to a billion hryvnias "in the army". At the same time, according to law enforcement agencies, at the time of concluding the contracts, the companies did not have sufficient production capabilities, so the supply of military goods was under contractual obligations and with signs of fictitious activity. According to sources, according to the investigation and prepared documents, the actions of Maxim Hrytsenko are qualified as official forgery, abuse of official position and participation in corruption schemes that caused losses to the state, estimated at billions of hryvnias. He faces up to six years in prison with confiscation of property and other restrictions. All these circumstances indicate a large-scale corruption scheme in the military procurement system, which has affected the interests of not only the military structures of Ukraine, but also trust in the civil service. Given the resonance of this case, the former employee and his "partners" will soon appear in court, where they will be charged and sentenced in accordance with current legislation.