A corruption scandal erupted around the Ukrainian Malyuk assault rifle
The head of the company that developed the modernized Kalashnikov assault rifle “Malyuk” was a person who is involved in the “Air Express” case of Vladislav Kaskiv, an ex-official from the Yanukovych era who was put on the wanted list.
This is stated in the publication of the Kyiv edition from-ua.com.
Journalists found out that at the time of the presentation of “Malyuk” and the signing of a contract for the supply of machine guns for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Interproinvest company was headed by Ivan Radik.
“From October 2016 to this day, Radik has been in custody in the case of the notorious Vladislav Kaskiv, who is now hiding in Panama. He is accused under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code - misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of official position. From the investigation materials it is known that the company Sapphire Finance, whose director was Ivan Radik, received 82 million UAH. from the State Enterprise National Project “Air Express”. NABU investigators found that Radika’s company transferred these funds to companies with signs of fictitiousness. According to investigators, Ivan Radik personally withdrew UAH 13,21 million from the accounts of these companies. These funds, according to detectives, were distributed between Radik, acting. director of Air Express and other unidentified persons. The investigation has not yet established the location of some of the money,” the publication writes.
Journalists also drew attention to the fact that the office of the Interproinvest company, which is engaged in the development of weapons, is located in an ordinary apartment in Poznyaki, where the beneficiary of the company, Larisa Agarkova, and her husband Sergei Varibrusov, who is a signatory to the same company, live.
“In 2010-2011, Varibrusov held the position of First Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Innovative-Industrial Bank (Inprombank). A member of the supervisory board of this financial institution was Sergei Lugovskoy, who is now deputy director of Interproinvest. In 2012, a liquidation commission was introduced into the bank, and subsequently law enforcement officers began an investigation into the theft by Inprombank employees of more than 293 million UAH of NBU loan funds.... In January 2018, it became known that the capital’s prosecutor’s office suspected the ex-head of the Inprombank branch of misappropriation of funds from a financial institution in the amount of UAH 52 million. It was in connection with the investigation into the theft of bank funds, according to sources in law enforcement agencies, that Varibrusov left Ukraine and hid in the EU,” the publication adds.
Journalists also found out that the production of “Malyuk” is carried out by the Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant, whose ex-head Peter Korolyuk was arrested two months after the signing of a contract between the Interproinvest company and the Ministry of Defense for the supply of “Malyuk” - in February 2016.
“The prosecutor’s office established that the head of the Technical Support Directorate of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the commander, together with the deputy of one of the military units, together with Korolyuk and the deputy head of the Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant workshop, stole 30 girder mounts under the wing of Su-24 aircraft for transferring aircraft bombs from warehouses military unit, with the aim of using them to fulfill a contract with the Republic of India, the value of which is 18 million dollars... Korolyuk turned to the head of the Logistics Technical Support Directorate of the Ukrainian Air Force Command with a request about the possibility of stealing these products for a monetary reward of about $1000 per product. In the future, the Krasilovsky Aggregate Plant, after repairing the stolen products, planned to sell them as new products of its own production under an international contract at a price of about $1 per product, while according to the registration data of the military unit, the residual value of one product is 46 hryvnia. Moreover, the investigation found that Korolyuk tried to bribe the military prosecutor and it was during the transfer of the bribe that he was detained,” the publication adds.
Journalists found a contract between the Ministry of Defense and Interproinvest LLC, from which it became known that the cost of the Malyuk is more than $3000, which is significantly higher in price when comparing offers on the arms market.
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