A Briton named in the Panama Papers was involved in a scheme to procure substandard body armor for the Ukrainian Armed Forces

A British citizen mentioned in the “Panama Papers” took part in the embezzlement of money allocated for the purchase of substandard body armor for the army — a scheme organized by businessman Tymur Mindich, in which he involved then–Defense Minister, now NSDC Secretary, Rustem Umerov.

This was reported on Facebook by Yurii Hudyma, head of the Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defense.

According to the publication, the owner of the companies “Fortress of Defense” and “Milicon”, which won the tenders and were supposed to supply body armor to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is British citizen Haim Brenig. He represents the offshore structure Airpay Holdings Limited, registered in Malta.

The first tender won by Forteця захисту was canceled by the State Rear Operator due to the company’s lack of a sales license. A few months later, the second tender was won by Milicon, 49% of which belongs to the same Fortress of Defense, and 51% to its director, Dmytro Stetsenko. Forteця захисту was also the representative of the Israeli company Masada Armor SoI, which was bidding for contracts with a total value of 1.6 billion hryvnias.

However, in the end the second contract was also not concluded, because representatives of the Ministry of Defense refused to accept the body armor after a scandal erupted over its poor quality.

Let us recall that, according to investigators, Mindich pressured Umerov to approve the body armor supply contract, and he eventually agreed.

As we reported, since February NABU has been actively investigating corruption in the field of defense procurement by the Mindich group.