The Ministry of Defense will terminate the contract with Hrynkevych's company for the supply of food for the military in Mykolaiv Oblast

Food for the military of the Armed Forces, photo: Ministry of Defense

The Ministry of Defense announced the termination of the last contract with businessman Ihor Hrynkevych's company «Trade Lines Retail», which was supposed to supply food to the Armed Forces of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

This was reported by the press service of the department on Wednesday, January 17.

The Ministry of Defense reported that at the end of 2023, Trade Lines Retail was recognized as the winner for the supply of food under one of 30 contracts for the army at competitive bidding in the Prozorro system. Currently, the companies have sent documents to terminate this contract due to «the impossibility of ensuring the supply of products».

In order to avoid complications with food supply, on January 16, the department announced another tender in Prozorro for the conclusion of a contract for the supply of food for the Armed Forces under the procedure of direct contracts.

The State Bureau of Investigation established that the entrepreneur's companies supplied low-quality goods. This caused damage to the state of over 934 million hryvnias. As part of the pre-trial investigation, the SBI seized their accounts and assets.

The department also stated that they have submitted an application to the SBI to be recognized as an injured party in the case against the entrepreneur's companies.

It will be recalled that on January 17, the State Bureau of Investigation, under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, reported a new suspicion to Ihor Hrynkevich.

The case of businessman Hrynkevych

As you know, the SBI is currently investigating the case of procurement of clothing and underwear for the Armed Forces. As part of this case, the investigators established that the companies of businessman Ihor Hrynkevich won 23 tenders for the supply of clothing to the Ministry of Defense for more than 1.5 billion hryvnias. But a number of contracts were not fully fulfilled, and the orders were fulfilled by enterprises without adequate capacities. According to the investigation, this led to a supply disruption and budget losses, according to preliminary estimates, for 1.2 billion hryvnias.

The entrepreneur tried to get out of the situation. According to law enforcement agencies, he wanted to hand over 19 million hryvnias as a bribe, or 500,000 dollars, to one of the heads of the Main Investigative Department of the SBI. However, the DBR employees detained the Lviv businessman.

On January 9, it became known that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is terminating agreements concluded with the companies of Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevych, who is accused of large-scale embezzlement of money for the needs of the military.

Later it became known that the Ministry of Defense still did not terminate one contract concluded with Ihor Hrynkevych's companies. We are talking about the contract for the supply of food for the military of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

On January 11, the court seized the property of the family and controlled companies of Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevych.

It is also known that the wife of businessman Svitlana Hrynkevych is the owner of two apartments in Kyiv and a plot of land in the Lviv region. Also, in March 2023, she purchased a motel complex.

The journalists of the High Castle report that the woman is a marketing lecturer at Lviv Polytechnic University. The rector of the university said that she applied for a leave of absence at her own expense due to family circumstances. The management of the educational institution refused to comment on the situation.

In the fall of 2023, journalists of the publication «Nashi Hroshi» reported on plans to build a Citizen Security Center in the village of Novyi Kropyvnyk in the Lviv region. The Department of Capital Construction of the Lviv region ordered the construction of the Center from «Building Alliance Montageproekt» LLC for 33 million hryvnias. Investigative journalists established that the cost of some construction materials exceeds market prices, and the director of this LLC is the son of the detained businessman, Roman Hrynkevych.

There were also claims that Roman Hrynkevych is investing large sums of money in the career of his future wife, the artist Sonia Moroziuk, and gifts for her, which probably could be related to his father's funds. Against the background of the scandal, the Institute of Problems of Contemporary Art of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine announced the closure of Sonia Moroziuk's exhibition project «Maznia».

Corruption in the Ministry of Defense

In 2023, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made 116 purchases of various goods and services for a total amount of almost 10 million hryvnias, including expensive Italian chess as gifts, Apple Watch smart watches, icons and sets of crystal tableware.

In the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Defense signed a contract with a Turkish company to supply clothing for the Armed Forces, but along the way, summer jackets turned into «winter» jackets and tripled in price. Journalists found an ad on the OLX website from this batch of jackets.

Later it turned out that at that time one of the owners of the firm was the nephew of the People's Deputy from «Servant of the People» Hennadii Kasai.

Previously, the Ministry of Defense concluded an agreement on food for the military at almost three times higher prices. The then Minister of Defense, Oleksii Reznikov, stated that the Ministry of Defense did not and does not plan to purchase eggs at 17 hryvnias per piece.

Later, the State Audit Service confirmed that the Ministry of Defense purchased eggs for the Armed Forces at an inflated price.

In December 2023, Valerii Zaluzhnyi stated that the Armed Forces should concentrate on fulfilling their tasks, and not on finding food, clothing, or means of armor protection, adding that the concepts of the Armed Forces and corruption should not be compatible.