Partners of traitors, crooks and shells without their own website - who disrupted supply of weapons to Ukraine
The supply of arms to Ukraine continues to be plagued by international scandals. Recently, the Bosnian newspaper Žurnal published a semi-detective story about why the Ukrainian supplier Lviv Arsenal failed to deliver 122 and 82 calibre mortar rounds to Ukraine last year.
The contract with the company of businessman and former presidential candidate Yuriy Zbitnev, which had not previously been listed as a verified arms supplier, was signed on 11 October 2022. The company received a 97% prepayment, but as a result, as of 1 January 2023, the company had receivables of UAH 168,107.4 thousand.
This is despite the fact that the first batch of mortar rounds was supposed to arrive from Croatia to Ukraine within 30 days.
Mortar rounds of 120 mm caliber were contracted at a price of UAH 19256.29.
Mortar rounds of 82 mm caliber - UAH 10194.53 per unit.
The company received the money in November, but Ukraine never received the mortar rounds. After the Department of Military and Technical Policy (DMTP) asked the supplier in December where the delivery was, Lviv Arsenal replied that the contractor, Slovakian Sevotech, did not have an export license. How the contract was concluded without it is not known to science.
Despite the fact that military warehouses with goods must be inspected by both special importers and military attaches, the story now seems to be that Croatia does not currently have these mines. Instead, Lviv Arsenal wants to supply ammunition from... Southeast Asia (imagine the extra charge for logistics).
Meanwhile, Censor.NET's interlocutors suspect that the whole story was possibly a Russian special operation to deprive Ukrainians of the weapons they need.
Perhaps it is, but who forced the then-head of the Liiev State Customs House to sign a contract with an unknown supplier and untested composition?
Meanwhile, the Bosnian press published an equally interesting version of this story - from the Balkan side. And now it looks like an attempt not to return the money and pretend that we are not guilty.
The publication notes that Lviv Arsenal purchased mortar rounds worth $36.6 million through Sevotech and WDG Promet.
According to documentation published by Ukrainian media and in a reaction sent by the director of Slovakian Sevotech, Jan Hodermarski, this company contracted a factory in Croatia that allegedly had 120mm shells, but they did not want to deliver them before a 50 percent down payment.
Khodermarsky claims that Lviv Arsenal did not immediately make the advance payment, so, according to him, "the Croatian counterparty canceled the contract for the supply of mines and explained it by the frivolity of the Ukrainian side and its incomprehensible game."
"What happened to WDG Promet and why did they fail to deliver the agreed tank shells and not return the money?" the publication logically asks.
The story goes on to say that WDG Promet has allegedly managed to find an alternative source of procurement of the necessary goods to fulfill the contract. WDG traffic alone requires an additional 7% payment to deliver the goods within 60 days.
"If not, WDG is ready to return the deposit received," Matthias Zuback wrote to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in March this year.
And then the drama begins in the company, as it turns out that their accountant Kamil Bakhbukh has embezzled 2.2 million euros and 30 million Czech crowns from the company.
"The credit union, represented by Kamil Bakhbukh, illegally seized our funds in the amount of EUR 2.2 million and CZK 30 million, which an unknown person withdrew from our cash accounts using forged payment orders," Zubak said in a letter to Ukrainian media, adding that Bakhbukh had defrauded WDG Promet of another EUR 1.938 million through Somecs Institute.
Zubak claims that WDG Promet did not issue an order to withdraw or transfer funds and that he, as a signatory, was in another country at the time. According to him, this amount corresponds to an advance payment for ammunition that the company received from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and Sevotech.
One could hug and cry over the misfortune of the suppliers. However, due to their obvious fraud, the Ukrainian military has been without contracted mortar rounds for a year.
Ukrainian specialized importers use the epithet "crook" for the Croatian businessman and are not surprised that he got together with Zbitnev.
As you can imagine, this is not the only procurement story.
The Czech Republic is investigating the activities of AKM Group -Cz.a.s. and its commercial ties with Ukrainian government agencies. As part of the investigation, USD 38.8 million was seized, which was transferred to the company from Ukraine.
The funds were blocked due to the suspicious nature of the transactions and the fact that the company had misused the funds. The transaction was recorded by the Czech Financial Analytical Office, which then forwarded the information to the National Centre for Combating Organised Crime.
At the same time, the Czechs warned the Ukrainian authorities that they were not going to disrupt the implementation of the military contract, but demanded that the company provide evidence that a third party was going to supply it with sniper rifles and that they would go to Ukraine.
As the editorial board has learned, AKM Group-Cz.a.s. most often appears as an intermediary in the proposals of the state-owned Spetstechnoexport company, which is under the supervision of the DIU.
The company is so powerful that its website is still under development.
The company is headed by a Czech woman, but the staff is full of Ukrainians, which raises suspicions that the company is being used as a padding for margin.
"AKM Group-Cz.a.s. offered Ukraine an RPG-7 grenade launcher with an optical sight for 4,440 euros, while Ukrspetsexport was ready to supply it for 3,500 euros.
AKM Group-Cz.a.s. offered the S-8 unguided aerial missile for 3800 euros, while USE offered it for 3098. In other offers of that STE, the same nomenclature was sold for 2867.
In particular, the 82 mm Warrior mortar at a cost of EUR 14,860.00 per unit. The manufacturer is Arsenal LLC, Bulgaria.
The company also supplied a 73 mm SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher with an MGOK-9 sight at a price of 27 thousand euros per unit. The manufacturer is again the Bulgarian plant Arsenal LLC.
Disposable anti-tank grenade launcher RPG-22 for 2,600 euros.
The company offered a 73 mm round for the OG-15V 1978-2018 for 890 euros. The manufacturer is VMZ, Bulgaria. At the same time, through another intermediary - RNR sp. z oo. Poland, STE offered a shot from the same Bulgarian plant for $848. But it was made in 2023.
As a result of investigations in the Czech Republic, the Security Service of Ukraine is now interested in AKM Group-Cz.a.s. As well as the activities of the Czech Colt Cz.
However, Ukrainian security services do not always see everything. For example, among the overdue contracts of Ukrspetsexport there are several where the Czech PAMCO INT. a.s. The register of court decisions contains a claim of the Ministry of Defence against the company for UAH 388 million.
Unlike the previous Czechs, PAMCO is a company with extensive experience in the arms trade.
Initially, PAMCO focused on commercial, financial, and legal advisory services to leading Czech industrial companies operating mainly in the aerospace, automotive and defense sectors. And then came the arms trade.
Alongside training aircraft, military, and special purpose vehicles, the company supplies a wide range of spare parts and accessories.
However, the company's history has lost one nuance: on 2 June 2008, the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company announced the purchase of 51% of the shares in the aircraft company Aviation Industries from the Czech Pamco Int. 51% stake in the aircraft manufacturing company Aircraft Industries.
"Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company is a Russian metallurgical company, the first largest copper producer in Russia, established in 1999 on the basis of key copper enterprises in the Urals.
PAMCO INT. a.s. actively cooperated with Motor Sich JSC prior to the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, namely, purchasing bearings for gas turbine drives. As you know, the owner of Motor Sich, Vyacheslav Boguslaev, is accused of treason.
Tatiana Nikolayenko, Censor.NET
