A senior Ukrainian defense ministry official has been arrested for embezzling about 36 million euros to buy artillery shells, officials said Friday, as the war-torn country faces ammunition shortages.
According to the lawsuit, this senior official, who has not been identified, “Organized system of embezzlement of budget funds during public procurement“To the amount of 1.5 billion hryvnias. These scams are related to the purchase of artillery shells for the armed forces at inflated prices,” the authority said in a press release.
“The director of one of the main departments of the Ministry of Defense has been arrested“, and according to searches by the security services at the house of the accused, the prosecution pointed out”Find documents confirming illegal activities“.
Several corruption scandals — an endemic vice in Ukraine — have rocked Ukrainian officials in recent months, particularly within the military and defense ministries. Investigations have been launched into the supply of substandard ammunition and bulletproof vests or the inflated prices of food items and military uniforms and cyber security software.
In early August, all regional officials responsible for military recruitment were dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, rooting out a corrupt system that allowed conscripts to escape from the army. The fight against corruption is one of the criteria set by the EU to examine Ukraine's candidacy.
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