Poltava officials declared suspects following a journalist investigation into drone procurement corruption

Illustration by the IMI

The Bureau of Economic Security has charged two Poltava City Council officials and the head of a supplier company with abuse of authority and forgery in office following an investigation by the newspaper Poltavshchyna into the City Council’s purchase of drones for the army at inflated prices, the media outlet reports.

According to the Poltavshchyna, a suspicion notice to Yuriy Konovalchuk, former ZED-Mobile CEO who supplied Poltava city with 80 Mavic 3T drones at a UAH 5 million overpayment, was issued on January 17. It was shortly after the media outlet’s investigation that the police opened proceedings over the incident.

At the end of 2023, the Civil Protection and Defense Department of the Poltava City Council held several large tenders for various equipment for the army with just one bidder – ZED-Mobile LLC. One of the purchases investigated by the news outlet was a batch of 170 quadcopters of three types worth UAH 38.9 million. A review of similar purchases by other communities and military units at that time showed that the tender held by Poltava city was corrupt and involved a potential UAH 9 million overpayment.

“After a series of scandals, law enforcement agencies began their investigation. Analysts at the Bureau of Economic Security branch in Poltava and forensic expertise confirmed a UAH 5 million overpayment on one of the three items investigated. It should be noted that for some reason, law enforcers only focused on one item: 80 Mavic 3T drones, each purchased at UAH 304.5 thousand. The experts concluded that out of the UAH 24.4 million spent on the Mavic 3T drones, UAH 5.3 million were overpayment. Although the purchases of two other types of drones involved overpayment as well,” the news outlet writes.

Poltavshchyna also notes that during the year of the pre-trial investigation, suspicion notices were issued to Serhiy Syrytsya, who ran the defense department at the time the procurement deals were made (i.e. he was carrying out the procurement at inflated prices – Author), and Maksym Panasenko, who was responsible for holding tenders in the Civil Protection and Defense Department of the Poltava City Council's Executive Committee.

Previously, reporting by Poltavshchyna has repeatedly triggered police investigations into corruption and caused cancellation of scandalous tenders at inflated prices.