SBI Suspects Ex-MoD Official of Illegal Waiver of Late Fees

The State Bureau of Investigation reported suspicion of one of the former officials of the Ministry of Defense, who "wrote" almost UAH 94 million in fines to a Lviv businessman for overdue contracts, the bureau's press service reports.

According to the agency, in 2023, enterprises controlled by the businessman concluded contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of military clothing - in particular, the companies signed 23 agreements worth over UAH 1.5 billion.

The SBI notes that at the time of signing the contracts, the companies controlled by the Lviv entrepreneur had neither their own production capabilities nor agreements with other companies to ensure the proper execution of the agreements.

Bureau employees established that due to the actions of the former acting fines issued to the director of the department were unjustifiably reduced from almost UAH 98 million to UAH 4.5 million, i.e. by UAH 93.5 million.

The bureau does not specify which Lviv businessman it is about, but it is clear from the context that it is Ihor Hrynkevich, who is a figure in the EBK base.

He has been in custody since the end of December 2023. He was detained while trying to pay a bribe of 500,000 dollars to one of the heads of the main investigative department of the SBI for assistance in the return of property seized from companies under his control during the investigation of criminal proceedings.

Then Hrynkevich was informed about the suspicion of offering an illegal benefit to an official. On January 17, he was also informed of the suspicion in the case regarding the procurement of clothing for the Armed Forces. According to the investigation, the amount of purchases reached almost 1 billion hryvnias.

Five members of the organization, which, according to the SBI, was created by Ihor Hrynkevich, were informed of the suspicion of creating and participating in a criminal organization, in fraud committed under martial law.

We will remind you that NABU and SAP completed the investigation of the Chernivtsi customs case.

We also wrote that ARMA exposed new assets of MSEC officials: millions in accounts.