The Kherson Regional Military Administration stated that law enforcement’s claims about “excessive profit” by suppliers of anti-drone nets, who became subjects of a criminal proceeding, have no legal basis.
This is stated in a memorandum from the Kherson Regional Military Administration (HOVA) that came into the possession of the MOST editorial office.
This concerns a criminal proceeding under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it by abusing official position, committed on a large scale or by an organized group), which, according to law enforcement, relates to a scheme of embezzling budget funds in the procurement of anti-drone nets for the Kherson region.
According to the investigation, current and former officials of the Department of Civil Protection and Defense Work of the Kherson Regional State Administration developed a scheme to appropriate budget funds. They signed contracts totaling UAH 32.5 million with a group of fictitious individual entrepreneurs (FOPs) to supply mesh fabric and fastenings. According to preliminary calculations by investigators, the losses may exceed UAH 6.4 million.
As the regional administration notes, earlier, in 2022 through the first half of 2023, there were indeed restrictions on price formation in the field of defense procurements. They were introduced by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 335, which effectively did not allow significant profit to be built into the cost of goods. However, that resolution lost force on July 18, 2023.
After that, defense procurements have been regulated by another government resolution — No. 1275. Thus, as HOVA claims, the current version of the document does not impose limits on the amount of profit.
Thus, according to the regional administration, forming the price with profit included is legal.
More about the scandalous situation with the nets — MOST reported at the link here.