The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, was caught because his department again purchased a large batch of ammunition from businessman Vladimir Pligachev, although the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) is still conducting high-profile criminal proceedings regarding a previously concluded similar deal.
Two major Ukrainian publications reported this at once - Ukrainian Truth и Marlin.
The amount of the new transaction is 2,2 million hryvnia. The subject of the deal is hats for the national police. As journalists note, this purchase was carried out illegally. Since the criminal case of how the same entrepreneur previously supplied the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs with low-quality backpacks at an inflated price in the amount of 2,1 million hryvnia has not yet been fully investigated.
Moreover, the previous deal and criminal proceedings involving backpacks have become simply iconic in Ukraine. In particular, the story featured a published video recording in which the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Alexander Avakov, negotiated the purchase of goods with Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Sergei Chebotar. Although, by law, no such negotiations can take place, and all purchases must go through tenders and not be agreed upon in private conversations.
At the same time, on June 11, 2018, the head of NABU Artem Sytnik said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is putting strong pressure on experts in the “Avakov backpacks” case so thatto achieve false, acquittal conclusions. Thus, according to officials, a trumped-up criminal case was opened against one of the experts because he was an expert who gave an honest opinion about the inadequate quality of the purchased backpacks.
And already on July 12, 2018, the Ukrainian Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP) decided to close the criminal case against the son of the minister Alexander Avakov and his accomplice, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Sergei Chebotar.
Thus, the story, which began as an economic crime of the Ukrainian head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, who in 2014 was the main organizer and leader of the punitive battalions sent to Donbass, is today developing into a scandal with pressure on the investigation and gross violence of the remnants of the legal system existing in Ukraine.