A private company laundered more than €48.5 million through the repair and maintenance of military equipment

A private company received more than 2.5 billion hryvnias (€48.5 million) and was supposed to repair and service military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

However, the purchase of spare parts and other materials existed only on paper, while the money flowed into the pockets of the schemers. More than half a billion hryvnias was laundered through a conversion center, through which the funds were transferred to fictitious companies.

This was reported by the National Police.

Investigators from the National Police identified more than 40 fictitious companies controlled by members of the criminal organization and servicing the conversion center. Among the directors of these firms were Ukrainian citizens who have lived in the “DPR” since 2014, and one of them works as a teacher and received the “Teacher of Russia” award. Polish citizens were also listed as founders of the firms. However, according to information received from Warsaw, such people do not exist.

Police established all the details of the structure and operation of the conversion group — from fictitious suppliers to the organizers and intermediaries. Three participants in the scheme — the head of the conversion center, a co-organizer who coordinated interaction between the company and the conversion center, and an accountant — have been served with notices of suspicion.

Nearly 40 searches were carried out in Dnipropetrovsk region, and officers seized company documents, mobile phones, handwritten notes, almost 2 million hryvnias, and vehicles.

According to the conclusions of forensic economic examinations, as a result of tax minimization the state suffered losses of about 100 million hryvnias, while the defense contractor laundered nearly 580 million hryvnias (€1.13 million) through the conversion center.

The suspects’ actions have been classified under Criminal Code articles on creating and participating in a criminal organization, money laundering, and tax evasion.

All the suspects have been placed in pretrial detention.