Law Enforcement Investigating Chernihiv Military Unit for Allegedly Overcharging $1 Million for Generators

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported that a Chernihiv region military unit overstated the cost of generators by more than $1 million.

Along with overstating the cost of generators, the Chernihiv military unit allegedly ordered 163 generators less than it was supposed to, didn’t deliver most of them to where they were meant to go, and then tried to keep this information from the Defense Ministry’s internal audit service – which worked with law enforcement agencies to conduct its inspection, the ministry posted on its website Tuesday.

The losses from the seeming corruption amounted to Hr.38.8 million ($1.08 million): “The largest of the four violations is the unreasonable overstatement of the cost of generators purchased in 2022, which caused Hr.37.1 million ($1.03 million) in losses,” the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine website says.

The Defense Ministry alleges that the Chernihiv military unit entered additional agreements with suppliers, which significantly changed the terms of its contract, and purchased 163 generators fewer than it needed to for Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

“In the period from October 2022 to April 2023, when the military critically needed generators, most of them were not delivered to military units but accumulated in warehouses. The share of generators issued for use did not exceed 15 percent of those purchased,” the Ministry of Defense said.

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In addition, during the inspection of the Internal Audit Service’s inspection, the military unit tried to obstruct the auditors, the website says.

The Internal Audit Service reported that it turned over its findings to law enforcement.