About UAH 32 million in losses on the purchase of medical equipment: the National Police exposed a criminal scheme
Law enforcers established that in 2020, using the simplified procurement regime associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, officials of the enterprise controlled by a citizen of the Russian Federation and representatives of a number of public health institutions organized a “scheme” to purchase equipment at inflated prices.
According to the concluded contracts, the private limited company was to purchase 49 foreign-made ultrasound diagnostic devices for transfer to hospitals in different regions of the country with state funds. The total amount of purchases amounted to almost 87 million hryvnias.
Part of the equipment was purchased at a price of 1.7 million UAH, another part — for 1.9 million UAH. According to the conducted examinations, the purchase of one ultrasound machine exceeded the market value of 600 to 700 thousand hryvnias.
Also, the purchased equipment was found to lack of technical means to increase the image and rechargeable batteries capable of providing autonomous operation.
As a result, the state suffered losses of almost 32 million hryvnias. Only the Department of Health of the Kyiv region suffered losses of UAH 8.5 million during the purchase of 11 ultrasound machines.
Operatives conducted a number of searches in the territory of Kyiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Poltava regions to identify and fix information about the circumstances of the commission of illegal actions.
During the searches, they seized documentation that may indicate the commission of the specified offense. Also at the place of residence of the head of private enterprises, passports and state awards of the Russian Federation were withdrawn.
At the moment, the funds of the company that made the purchase of the devices have been seized. The former authorized person for procurement at the Department of Health of the Kyiv Regional State Administration was informed of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 366 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
After all procedural measures, the issue of notification of suspicions to all those involved in the illegal “scheme” will be resolved.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
National Police of Ukraine
