Position: former Deputy Minister of Defense, currently owner of the ATL group of companies.
Sphere of corrupt activity: national security and defense.
Region of corruption activity: the entire territory of Ukraine.
Qualification: the actions of the ex-official were qualified under Article 28, Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Status: at large.
The plot of the case: in early December 2024, law enforcement officers uncovered a large-scale scam in the purchase of military uniforms. Suspicions were raised against a former adviser to the Ministry of Defense, a former people's deputy, and his son.
As reported by the National Police, the scheme was organized by a foreigner - an "international fraudster" who has been repeatedly prosecuted in France, Spain, Turkey, and Indonesia.
In order to seize budget funds for the order of over a million sets of clothing for the Ukrainian military under agreements concluded in 2022 at inflated prices, the former advisor to the former Deputy Minister of Defense entered into a criminal conspiracy with a People's Deputy of the II-IV convocations. The deputy's son and a foreigner also appear in the deal
According to a source of Suspilny, we are talking about a former adviser to the Ministry of Defense, businessman Roman Balykin, owner of the ATL group of companies, People's Deputy of three convocations Ihor Franchuk, and his son Yaroslav Franchuk.
To fulfill the order, the foreigner, the organizer of the scheme, selected a textile holding in Turkey and promised its managers to assist in obtaining a large defense order thanks to his connections with influential Ukrainian officials and politicians.
The Turkish side reported that the price of manufacturing more than a million sets of military uniforms would cost $25.6 million and issued a power of attorney to the organizer of the scheme to represent its interests.
The intermediary concluded five agreements with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine at inflated prices worth more than $35 million on behalf of a company controlled by him, and only after that signed contracts worth $25.6 million with a Turkish clothing holding. More than $10 million of the difference was supposed to "lie" in the pocket of the intermediary, an advisor to the former Deputy Minister of Defense and a former MP who lobbied for the conclusion of these contracts
According to the investigation, the foreign fraudster sent the Turkish side $10 million as a deposit, and when the Turks sewed the uniform and delivered it to Ukraine, the intermediary stopped contacting them and did not give them another $10 million for the work done. Operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations and investigators of the National Police established that the organizer of the scam subsequently spent these funds at his own discretion.
According to available information, it has been established that the participants used the funds obtained through criminal schemes to purchase luxury cars and real estate, including abroad.
Police officers conducted 38 authorized searches of the residences and workplaces of Ukrainian citizens involved in the criminal scheme, as a result of which documents, cars, mobile phones, and computer equipment containing evidence of the crimes were seized.
National Police investigators have collected enough evidence to charge the advisor to the former Deputy Minister of Defense, the former People's Deputy, and his son with suspicion of fraud on a particularly large scale, committed by a group of persons (Article 28, Part 4, Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The issue of imposing an arrest on the property of the defendants is being resolved. They face up to 12 years in prison.
Persons potentially involved in corruption schemes: in addition to Balykin, this corruption scheme also involves People's Deputy of three convocations Ihor Franchuk, his son Yaroslav Franchuk, and a foreigner who turned out to be a fraudster.
Assets: There are no publicly available income declarations of Roman Balykin.
Persons who should have reacted: law enforcement agencies responded in a timely manner to the criminal activities of Balykin and his accomplices.
Scandals: According to media reports, this is not Balykin's first involvement in defense contracts. The scandal with deals during the construction of the Shyroky Lan military training ground in the Mykolaiv region also leads to Balykin.
In 2016, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine concluded a contract with Rost LLC for construction work at the landfill worth 232 million hryvnias. Despite the failure to fulfill the terms of the contract, Ministry officials accepted the work and transferred the funds to the company.
According to the investigation, the LLC failed to perform work worth 37 million hryvnias. As of 2016, the beneficiaries of the Rost company were Dmitry Pashkovsky, E-pos LLC, and Stolytsia Management Company LLC. The latter was founded by a Russian citizen and transferred to Pashkovsky in 2015. The owners of E-pos were also Pashkovsky and the TLA Kyiv company. In 2019, TLA Kyiv was transferred to Oksana Balykina, probably the wife of Roman Balykin.
But the contractor for "Rost" at this facility was ATL Autoservice LLC, which was founded in the same 2016 by Dmitry Romanovich Balykin, the son of Roman Balykin, and Dmitry Pashkovsky. In 2020, the case was transferred to the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. The court set bail for Balykin — 2.1 million hryvnias, which was reduced to only 780 thousand hryvnias in 2022.
Dmytro Pashkovsky also acts as Balykin's lawyer. His law firm is registered at the same address in Kyiv as most of the ATL group's companies — 36 Symyrenko St. In 2023, Balykin created a new company, BMC Ukraine, which specializes in the production of cars, spare parts, and weapons.
In the last five months alone, the company has won tenders for the supply of car tires for one military unit for almost 1 million 300 thousand hryvnias.
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