Scheme involving procurement of UAVs for defence: indictment filed against officials and contractor. PHOTOS
Prosecutors from the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office for Defence Affairs in the Central Region have filed an indictment against three officials from the city council department and the director of a company.
They are accused of embezzling public funds during the procurement of quadcopters for defence purposes, reports Censor.NET.
What is known?
According to the investigation, in 2023, the head of the department, together with his subordinates and the director of the company, organised a scheme to purchase drones at inflated prices as part of a local defence capability support programme.
The officials had pre-selected the supplier and artificially inflated the expected purchase cost. To this end, they conducted a formal market analysis using unreliable commercial offers from companies that did not actually sell such equipment, thereby creating the appearance of a market price.
According to the investigation, the tender documentation was prepared with a specific participant in mind – the requirements were formulated in such a way as to prevent other companies from participating.
As a result, a pre-selected company won the contract, with which a deal was signed to supply 90 quadcopters worth 14.5 million hryvnias.
Subsequently, the participants in the scheme included false information in official documents regarding the alleged full delivery of the goods, although in reality the quadcopters had not been delivered at that time. On the basis of these documents, the full contract amount was transferred from the local budget, despite the fact that the actual value of the equipment was significantly lower.
The company director transferred the funds received to the account of another company under the guise of payment for ancillary services. As a result of these actions, the budget suffered losses amounting to 2.6 million hryvnias.
In January 2026, the accused were notified of the charges against them.
A civil claim for compensation for damages was filed as part of the proceedings. As the city council did not acknowledge the damage caused, the prosecutor brought the case before the court in the interests of the local community.
