Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies send military food procurement indictment to court
Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have referred an indictment in the "golden eggs" military food procurement case to the Higher Anti-Corruption Court. The defendants include a former head of a Defence Ministry procurement department, the owner and directors of supplier companies, and a private individual accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of hryvnias in 2022–2023.
Key points
- The indictment covers alleged embezzlement of more than 733 million hryvnias between August and December 2022
- The Ministry of Defence procurement catalogue contained 409 product items
- About 1.2 billion hryvnias, or 50% of a general supply's value, went to 40 products with inflated prices
- The defendants include a former head of a Defence Ministry procurement department, the owner and directors of supplier companies, and a private individual
- The charges fall under parts of Articles 191, 15 and 209 of Ukraine's Criminal Code
- BEB detectives seized more than 4.7 million euros in unaccounted cash in August 2024; the court placed the funds under arrest
- Price cuts on 11 in-demand products after media scrutiny helped prevent the theft of 788 million hryvnias
Why it matters
The indictment advances a major alleged embezzlement case involving hundreds of millions of hryvnias from military food procurement budgets during Russia's full-scale invasion. It links senior Defence Ministry procurement oversight to private suppliers through a catalogue-price manipulation scheme, illustrating how pricing mechanisms allowed suppliers to inflate prices on goods troops actually needed while setting unrealistically low prices on products they could no longer order.
What happened
NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have sent an indictment to the Higher Anti-Corruption Court for substantive review. The defendants are accused of embezzling state funds through military food purchases in 2022–2023, with more than 733 million hryvnias illegally obtained from the budget between August and December 2022 by two supplier companies controlled by one owner. Part of the money was moved out as dividends and repayable financial assistance to affiliated companies.
Procurement prices were calculated using all 409 catalogue entries and average prices, enabling suppliers to manipulate individual prices. About half of the value of a general supply, roughly 1.2 billion hryvnias, was concentrated on 40 products with inflated prices. Meanwhile, anomalously low catalogue prices were set for seasonal goods such as cherries at 8 hryvnias per kilogram and strawberries and blackcurrants at 10 hryvnias per kilogram. Military units could not order these items because the contracts were concluded after the relevant ordering periods had closed. A former Defence Ministry official allegedly did not notice the price manipulations when signing supply contracts.
The charges are classified under parts of Articles 191, 15 and 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In August 2024, BEB detectives seized more than 4.7 million euros in unaccounted cash while investigating tax evasion by the supplier companies, and the Higher Anti-Corruption Court placed the funds under arrest.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian outlets frame the case through NABU and SАП procedural steps, emphasizing the indictment's referral to the Higher Anti-Corruption Court and the defendants' roles in Defence Ministry procurement. Coverage also foregrounds the political fallout of the January 2023 procurement scandal, including the dismissal of then defence minister Oleksii Reznikov, deputy defence minister Viacheslav Shapovalov and procurement department director Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, as well as how media scrutiny led participants to cut prices on 11 in-demand products, preventing a further 788 million hryvnians from being taken from the budget.
Where reporting differs
The Ministry of Defence publicly denied reports that procurement prices were two to three times higher than in stores, calling them misleading and manipulation of information. Journalists' comparisons of procurement data with supermarket prices in January 2023 showed that in-demand goods cost two to three times more.
Background
The scheme operated through a 409-item catalogue whose total value was calculated using all entries and average prices, allowing suppliers to manipulate prices. In April 2025, five suspects were formally notified, investigators completed the probe in September 2025, and in July 2025 a court placed the supplier companies' owner, Tetiana Hlyniana, who was named the main suspect, under in-person arrest in absentia. The crime was uncovered with the assistance of the State Audit Service of Ukraine.