'Golden eggs' case: HACC remands ex-Defense Ministry official Khmelnytsky to overnight house arrest
The High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has applied a preventive measure to the former head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry department in the "golden eggs" case, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) reported.
"On April 15, 2025, the HACC investigating judge applied a preventive measure in the form of night house arrest to the former head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry department," the Telegram channel reported on Tuesday.
The person is also subject to procedural obligations to appear before the detective, prosecutor, or court upon the first call, not to leave the territory of the settlement in which he is registered or resides without the permission of the investigator, prosecutor, or court. In addition, he must inform the investigator, prosecutor, and court about changes in his place of residence and work, refrain from communicating with other suspects in the case and witnesses regarding the circumstances set out in the notice of suspicion, submit passport(s) for travel abroad and other documents to the relevant government authorities for safekeeping.
The preventive measure is in effect until June 15, 2025.
The message does not indicate the name of the person involved, however, according to the NGO Transparency International Ukraine, the individual in question is former head of the Ministry of Defense Department for clothing supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
"According to the investigation, it was Bohdan Khmelnytsky who signed all the contracts for the supply of products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at inflated prices. He also negotiated with another person involved in the case, the former director of one of the supplier companies, Mykola Deshpetko," the message says.
As reported, during 2022-2023, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine provided the military with food by purchasing catering services from business entities. The essence of this service is the purchase of a set of products according to the catalog, which contained 409 items.
The criminal scheme consisted of setting inflated prices for the most popular products and understated prices for less popular ones. Its implementation led to the fact that during August-December 2022, two supplier companies illegally received more than UAH 733 million from the budget.
On April 2, law enforcement officers reported suspicion to the former head of the Ministry of Defense department, the owner of related supplier companies, two heads of supplier companies and an individual. They are charged under Part 5 of Art. 191 (embezzlement), Part 2 of Art. 15 and Part 15 of Art. 191 (attempted embezzlement) and Part 3 of Art. 209 (legalization of ill-gotten gains) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.