Embezzlement of US$39 million case: Ukraine's Defence Minister suspends chief of military and technical policy department

Toomas Nahkur, Acting Director of the Department of Military and Technical Policy, Development of Arms and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, has been suspended from his post after being served with a notice of suspicion in the case of embezzlement of almost UAH 1.5 billion [roughly US$39 million] allocated for the purchase of ammunition.

Source: Ukraine’s Defence Ministry

Quote: "Toomas Nahkur, Acting Director of the Department of Military and Technical Policy, Development of Arms and Military Equipment of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, shall be suspended from performing his official duties by the decision of Rustem Umierov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, dated 1 February 2024, at the request of Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine."

Details: The Ukrainian MoD clarified that the reason behind Nahkur’s suspension was a notice of suspicion in a criminal case. Nakhkur was served with a notice of suspicion on 27 January.

Background:

• On 27 January, Toomas Nakhkur, former head of the department Oleksandr Liiev, managers of the Lviv Arsenal company and a representative of a foreign firm were served with notices of suspicion in the case of embezzlement of almost UAH 1.5 billion for the purchase of ammunition.

Previously:

• Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda reported that Lviv Arsenal received US$36.8 million from the Ukrainian MoD for the supply of a large batch of 120-mm and 82-mm mortar rounds, but the company is long overdue on the contract and had not handed over a single ammunition piece to the Armed Forces.
• Yurii Zbitniev is the founder of Lviv Arsenal; he became one of the youngest members of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian parliament] of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. He also took part in creating the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United), but later left it.
• The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence reportedly signed a contract with a little-known company called Lviv Arsenal on 11 November 2022. A few days later, the then Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov authorised an advance payment under the contract – almost 100% of the contract amount.
• Deliveries were supposed to begin in December 2022 and be fully completed by the end of February 2023. However, as Ukrainska Pravda reported, as of the end of July, the Defence Ministry had not received a single ammunition piece under the prepaid contract.
• On 26 January, the Pivnichnyi (Northern) Commercial Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first instance court to recover UAH 1.5 billion from Yurii Zbitniev's Lviv Arsenal company, which failed to complete a contract to supply ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

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