NABU uncovers $1.3M bribe in Defense Ministry housing contest
NABU and SAPO have opened the materials of a criminal case opened against the former head of one of the divisions of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on suspicion of corruption for winning a competition to build housing for military personnel.
According to law enforcement officials, the former head of one of the Central Territorial Departments of the military department is suspected of receiving an illegal benefit of $1.3 million from one of the capital's developers.
According to the investigation, the official offered the developer to ensure victory in the competition for the construction of a house for the military in the Svyatoshynskyi district of Kyiv.
To implement the plan, the defendant recruited two accomplices, officials from the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and valued his services at $1.3 million, the NABU reported.
The money was to be transferred in three tranches through bank cells:
· $100 thousand — before the start of the competition;
· $400 thousand - for signing a construction contract;
· $800 thousand - after the completion of the first stage of construction.
However, after the competition began, the developer asked to reduce the amount to $1 million, to which the official agreed.
In June 2025, after the developer provided the first tranche of $100,000, the defendants were caught red-handed, the NABU reported.
Despite the veiled nature of the official's actions, detectives managed to collect evidence of his involvement in the crime, which became the basis for reporting him to the police in August.
Currently, one of the defendants has already appeared in court, while another accomplice and a former Defense Ministry official are in custody.
Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau dismantled a large-scale scheme operating in two regions of the country. Criminals embezzled 102 million budget hryvnias from the production of dynamic protection for tanks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
We also reported that a former official of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and two employees of the State Enterprise "Ukrspetstorg" were suspected of involvement in a scheme for the illegal sale of decommissioned warships.
