In Spain, former First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC and business partner of former Ukrainian President Poroshenko has been detained

A former First Deputy Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) has been detained in Spain.

This was reported by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).

While the suspect’s name was not officially disclosed, media sources identify him as Oleh Hladkovskyi (formerly Svynarchuk) — a close associate of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

“On May 14, in the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, local law enforcement detained a former First Deputy Secretary of the NSDC, who is charged in a case by the SAPO and NABU with causing damages to the state amounting to 17.44 million UAH (€378,400),” the agency said.

Extradition proceedings are now underway.

The scandal involving Hladkovskyi dates back to Poroshenko’s presidency, just before the 2019 elections. It dealt a major blow to the incumbent president’s re-election campaign.

At the time, media published audio recordings of Hladkovskyi’s son Ihor and close business associates discussing inflated prices for defense-related contracts.

After Volodymyr Zelensky won the election promising criminal accountability (“посадки”), the investigation into Hladkovskyi accelerated. He was briefly detained in October 2019 but was quickly released on bail. The case went to trial in 2021, but in November 2023, Hladkovskyi fled Ukraine and was placed on an international wanted list.

NABU suspects him of organizing the purchase of Bogdan-brand military trucks for Ukraine’s Armed Forces at inflated prices from a company he co-owned — which resulted in state losses of around 17 million UAH (€369,000). Notably, former president Poroshenko was also a co-owner of the Bogdan Corporation.

At the NSDC, Hladkovskyi oversaw the defense-industrial complex and had direct influence over the state defense procurement process.

The case also involves a former Deputy Minister of Defense and the acting director of the Defense Ministry’s Department of Military-Technical Policy.

Recently, Ukrainian media reported that President Zelensky imposed sanctions on Petro Poroshenko — Hladkovskyi’s business partner and the person who appointed him to the NSDC post.

It’s worth noting that in May 2023, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Hladkovskyi. Previously, NABU had also declared his deputy wanted.

In autumn 2023, HACC issued a separate arrest warrant for Hladkovskyi’s son, related to another corruption case involving overpricing in the procurement of altimeters.