Two Ukrainian soldiers detained for demanding kickback on military procurement contract

Filed 1mo ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Umbrella Pants

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Diplomatic Security Service from Washington, D.C., United St · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office detained two service members, including one officer, accused of demanding a 4.48 million hryvnia (over $100,000) bribe from a defense contractor to approve a 22.4 million hryvnia electronic warfare equipment contract funded by an NGO. Investigators say the officer initially demanded a 10% kickback, then doubled it after the supplier refused and brought in accomplices to manufacture bureaucratic delays.

One accomplice was caught accepting a $20,000 cash down payment, with the suspects allegedly continuing to press for the remaining $80,000 afterward. Both have been charged with accepting a large bribe and aiding and abetting the scheme.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Skimming off equipment meant for the front line is a special kind of graft, and the fact that anti-corruption investigators caught this one in the act is the only mildly reassuring part of the story. The contract, notably, wasn't even government money — it was donor-funded, which makes the shakedown even pettier.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Umbrella Pants · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0