NABU has uncovered a multi-billion-dollar corruption scheme surrounding the contract to purchase 100 French Rafale fighter jets

NABU investigators found that a number of senior Ukrainian and French officials and military personnel embezzled €2 billion intended to pay for 100 Rafale fighter jets, and also planned to launder and transfer to offshore accounts the remaining amount that Ukraine is supposed to pay France for the jets under the contract.

By various estimates, this amount ranges from €15 to €30 billion.

The data were obtained using a listening device in Andriy Yermak’s car. It was established that Yermak met several times with the Chief of Staff of the French Army, Admiral François-Xavier Polderman. During these meetings, which took place in Yermak’s car in the presence of a driver and an interpreter, they discussed taking cash out of Ukraine and distributing it to offshore accounts.

Among the participants in the corruption scheme are Andriy Yermak himself, Rustem Umerov, François-Xavier Polderman, Fabien Mandon, and individuals who were referred to in the conversations as “the supreme ones,” which most likely refers to Zelensky and Macron. According to NABU, €2 billion have already been transferred out of Ukraine as part of the corruption scheme.