307 million hryvnia were stolen from the Ministry of Defense: ex-member Maksym Mikitas received another suspicion

NABU and SAPO reported suspicion to former people's deputy Maxim Mikitas. This time in possession of more than 307 million UAH.

Ministry of Defense allocated for the construction of arsenals for storing missiles and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. External Deputy companies LLC BC Ukrstroymontazh and LLC North Ukrainian Construction Alliance were supposed to build warehouses in Kalinovka, Vinnytsia region, in Tsvitos, Khmelnytsky region, and Bogdanovka, Kirovograd region.

In addition to him, suspicion was reported to Nikitas’ assistant, the director of his company, the former first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two other former/current senior and senior military personnel.

According to investigators, in 2018 the Ministry of Defense signed contracts with companies controlled by Mikitas for the construction of protected warehouses for storing missiles and ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine until 2021 for a total amount of approximately 3 billion UAH. The ex-people's deputy planned to take possession of part of these funds. However, he was prevented from doing this by legislative restrictions, which allowed the Ministry of Defense to pay an advance in the amount of only 30% of the annual volume of work. In order to implement the criminal intention, Mikitashu and his assistant, by involving officials of senior and senior officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ensured the adoption of changes to the resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers, which allowed the transfer of an advance for construction in the amount of 80% of the total cost of contracts.

As a result, during November-December 2018, the Ministry of Defense transferred more than UAH 307 million to the accounts of a company controlled by the deputy. However, the construction of the facility, which should strengthen the country’s defense capability, did not actually begin, and the allocated funds were transferred to the accounts of other controlled companies. The warehouses were to be built by companies from Mikitas orbit.

Let us recall that six years ago the Ministry of Defense began construction of new modern ammunition depots for the Ukrainian army, but did not complete it before the deadline. The Ministry of Defense ordered new military arsenals in 2018. In total, 136 ammunition storage facilities were to be built in three military units by the end of 2021.