Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reported the suspicion to the former Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine during the time of President Yanukovych.
It is suspected that in 2011 he and other participants of the scheme withdrew more than 32 million hryvnias from a tender for remote sensing of the Earth, the NABU press service reports.
The message emphasized that the actions of the suspects were qualified under Part 5 of Art. 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
"The investigation is taking the necessary measures to bring other participants in the corruption scheme to criminal responsibility," the NABU press service emphasized.
It is noted that the winner of the tender for the development and implementation of software for environmental monitoring was a predetermined Austrian company. The Ministry of Ecology signed a contract with the company for the amount of UAH 41.15 million.
"However, the winner was not capable and did not plan to provide these services at all. Instead, with the help of the advisors of the then Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, a number of contractors were attracted, who became the real executors of the tender," the report says.
The press service explained that the real performers received only about 20% of the tender amount. And the rest of the funds received from the ministry (32.048 million hryvnias) during 2012 were withdrawn by the participants of the scheme. Money was transferred to the accounts of other non-resident companies on the basis of fictitious documents about allegedly developed software that was not actually developed and delivered. Its functionality was performed by a part of the software, which was delivered by the real executors of the project.
"Since the location of the exhibitor has not been established, he was informed of the suspicion in accordance with Art. Art. 111, 135, 278 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Notification of suspicion to foreign citizens has been sent to the countries of their registration within the framework of international legal assistance," the message reads.
As EcoPolitic reported before, detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau detained on a bribe of $400,000 Deputy Minister of Development of Communities and Territories, Vasyl Lozynskyi, who was responsible for the activities of the Energy Efficiency Directorate for 3 years.