Ex-NPU officer UAH 1 million bribery case sent to court
On May 12, 2022, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) filed an indictment against the former Head of the Explosives Department of the National Police of Ukraine exposed accepting UAH 980,000 in undue benefit and a private entrepreneur who gave the money. The actions of the former fall under Part 4 Art. 368, Part 1 Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the latter - under Part 3 Art. 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
As established, the ex-officer, being aware of the NPU's need for explosion protection equipment, in the fall of 2016, invented a scheme together with a private entrepreneur to purchase such gear for the units of the Luhansk region police. The appearance of no competition in the tender was artificially given in order to carry out the procurement through negotiations. As a result, the National Police paid UAH 3 million, of which the private entrepreneur transferred UAH 980 thousand allegedly for legal services (which were not actually provided) to the company owned by the NPU officer.
In April 2021, NABU and NPU's Internal Security served suspicion notices to both persons. In October 2021, the investigation was completed.
According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered not-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.