Kyiv
The Security Service of Ukraine, commonly known as SBU, said on Saturday (Jan 27) that it uncovered a corruption scheme in the purchase of arms by the country's military to the tune of about $40 million. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the SBU said that an investigation had "exposed officials of the ministry of defence and managers of arms supplier Lviv Arsenal, who stole nearly 1.5 billion hryvnias in the purchase of shells."
"According to the investigation, former and current high-ranking officials of the ministry of defence and heads of affiliated companies are involved in the embezzlement," the SBU said, adding the embezzlement involved the purchase of 100,000 mortar shells for the military.
The allegations were confirmed by the defence ministry.
'Five people served notices of suspicion'
The SBU said on Saturday that a contract for the mortar shells was clinched by Lviv Arsenal in August 2022- six months after Russia's offensive- and payment was made in advance, with some funds transferred abroad. However, no arms were provided, and some of the funds were moved to other foreign accounts.
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The security service also said that five individuals had been served "notices of suspicion" - the first stage in Ukrainian legal proceedings - both in the ministry and the arms supplier. One of the suspects was detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's prosecutor general said the stolen funds have been seized and will be returned to the defence budget.
In recent months, Ukraine has seen a series of corruption scandals including several others within the defence ministry.
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The latest expose by the SBU comes amidst Republican lawmakers in the United States resisting President Joe Biden's efforts to send more aid to Kyiv. Last week, President Biden's top aids told lawmakers in a private meeting that if Congress failed to authorise additional military aid for Ukraine in the coming days, Russia could win the war in a matter of weeks or months, NBC News reported.
Citing sources, the report said that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines have said that Kyiv would run out of certain air defence and artillery capabilities in the coming weeks.
(With inputs from agencies)