Ukrainian court sentences former official to 10 years over $6 million body armor procurement scheme
Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court has sentenced a former state enterprise director to 10 years in prison over the embezzlement of 251 million hryvnias allocated to purchase body armor for Ukrainian troops in 2022. Not a single vest was delivered, prosecutors said.
The court handed down sentences to three defendants on November 10, according to Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
The former director general of Ukrpatent, a state enterprise responsible for intellectual property administration, was convicted of large-scale embezzlement. In addition to the 10-year prison sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of all his property and barred him from holding public office for three years.
A former acting state secretary at Ukraine's Economy Ministry was sentenced to seven years in prison for aiding the embezzlement. The court also ordered the confiscation of half his property and imposed a three-year ban on holding public office.
The third defendant, a former head of a charitable organization's board, received an eight-year prison sentence for money laundering. The court ordered the confiscation of all his property and barred him from holding managerial or administrative positions for three years.
However, the court acquitted the third defendant of the separate charge of aiding the embezzlement.
Court orders compensation
The court also partially upheld a civil claim brought by the state enterprise, now known as Tsyfrove, and ordered the former Ukrpatent director and the former Economy Ministry official to jointly pay more than 296 million hryvnias in damages.
The compensation order does not mean the money has already been recovered.
According to SAPO, the defendants were exposed in 2022 in connection with the misuse of funds intended to purchase protective equipment for Ukraine's armed forces during the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Prosecutors said the verdict resulted from a joint investigation involving SAPO, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
SAPO said it would decide whether to appeal after reviewing the court's full written ruling.
The verdict may still be challenged on appeal.