NABU and SAP uncovered a corruption scheme in the defense sector, resulting in a loss of 246 million hryvnias for the state. The case involves abuses during the development of the automated system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine's Operational Command Center.

This was reported by NABU's press service on Wednesday, February 19.

NABU and SAP exposed a scheme for embezzling funds from "Ukroboronprom" exceeding 100 million UAHNABU and SAP uncovered a criminal group that misappropriated over 107 million UAH belonging to Ukroboronprom enterprises.

Among the suspects are:

  • a former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, lieutenant general,
  • a former head of the communication troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, major general,
  • a former head of the Automation Development Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, colonel,
  • the director of a private company – the main contractor.

NABU revealed that in 2016, the Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the system's development with a commercial company lacking experience in software creation. Over four years of development, the technical task was changed 13 times, allowing the project cost to rise by 300 million hryvnias. Without justification, the number of prototypes increased from 4 to 12, leading to additional costs for documentation adjustments amounting to 115 million hryvnias.

It turned out that the developed system did not meet the technical requirements: from incompatibility with NATO protocols to a lack of integration with other military systems. Furthermore, part of the software is not used at all.

Despite these evident shortcomings, at the end of 2022, the "Kolokol" system was officially adopted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By 2024, instead of addressing its deficiencies, additional funding was planned for "Kolokol."

During the investigation, detectives and prosecutors faced attempts to obstruct the inquiry. Furthermore, after the investigation commenced, they expedited their work and even upgraded the system for free, trying to align it with the original concept. However, due to fundamental architectural flaws, further development of the "Kolokol" system is impossible.

Recall that earlier, the SBU uncovered a scheme for selling "trophy" weapons. The SBU also discovered a scheme in which 36 million was misappropriated for aircraft equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.