Vladyslav Belbes, head of state-owned SpetsTechnoExport, who is allegedly involved in the embezzlement of Hr 55 million ($2.25 million), was released on March 9 on bail of Hr 7 million ($260,000).
Two other suspects involved in the case also were released from prison on bail: Pavlo Barbul, former head of the company, who was bailed for Hr 2 million ($74,000), and Denys Panasenko, one of the company’s top officials – bailed for Hr 5 million ($185,000).
SpetsTechnoExport, a subsidiary of UkrOboronProm, the giant state-run holding company of more than 130 defense enterprises which was created during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency in 2010, is responsible for both importing and exporting Ukrainian weapons.
According to the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the embezzlement took place between 2009-2016, when a contract between India’s Defense Ministry and SpetsTechnoExport was signed through an intermediary registered in the United Arab Emirates.
The intermediary was paid over $2.25 million for parts that the state never received.
The case against SpetsTechnoExport’s top rank officials is the latest instance in the corruption scandal that opened after on Feb. 25 when an investigative report by Bihus.info revealed major corruption schemes in Ukraine’s defense sector.
The investigation exposed the son of Oleh Hladkovskiy, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council and top ally and business partner of President Petro Poroshenko, who was allegedly smuggling used parts for military equipment from Russia and selling them to Ukrainian defense companies at inflated prices.
Hladkovskiy was fired on March 4 while the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine opened 25 cases against 10 state-owned subsidiaries of UkrObornProm, according to the bureau’s head Artem Sytnyk.
Both Hladkovskiy and his son have denied all of the accusations. Oleh Hladkovskiy called the scandal “an artificial compilation of deceitful provocative facts” spread in the media to discredit him ahead of the presidential election on March 31.
“Losses, according to preliminary data, which in part have already been confirmed, amount to about Hr 1 billion ($37 million),” Sytnyk said during a briefing on March 7.
Sytnyk also told the media that NABU has conducted searches in the apartments of Hladkovskiy, his son and associates, as well as in the apartment of Pavlo Bukin, the head of UkrOboronProm, who also appeared in the investigative report by Bihus.info.
