Searches conducted in Odesa region over 100 million firewood deal for the Armed Forces

The Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police conducted a series of searches in 15 regions of Ukraine, including Odesa region, on suspicion of a corruption scheme in the supply of firewood to units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In particular, the police stated that when purchasing firewood for the Armed Forces, the scheme participants concluded contracts at artificially high prices, and the supply was not complete.

Investigators claim that officials of housing and maintenance departments and departments and contractors who have personal relationships with these officials are involved in the operation of the schemes. Investigators found that, for example, the cost of wood in the contracts, in some cases, exceeded the market price by 30-40% or was not delivered in full. Manipulation of figures in official documents caused losses to the state. According to preliminary estimates, as a result of such actions, the state suffered losses in excess of UAH 100 million.

Within the framework of 20 criminal proceedings, officers of the police, the State Bureau of Investigation, the BES, the SBU, the Military Law Enforcement Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, specialized defense prosecutors, as well as district and regional prosecutors' offices conducted 49 searches on the territory of Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovs'k, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regions and the city of Kyiv.

At present, six persons involved in the criminal schemes have been served suspicion notices of misappropriation<span>, embezzlement or seizure of property through abuse of office,</span> negligence, and negligence in military service.

Кирило Бойко