Under the procedural guidance of a prosecutor from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) have served new suspicions to an official of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) and the owner of a private company in a bribery case concerning drone supplies.
In a Telegram channel on Wednesday, the SAPO reported that in May of this year, the official and the company owner were exposed for extortion of $1 million.
"Today, they have been additionally incriminated with the provision of an undue advantage and the legalization of illegal funds (Part 2 of Article 369, Part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," the message reads.
According to the SAPO, the pre-trial investigation established that an official of the SBGSU Administration arranged for public procurement procedures for unmanned aerial vehicles to be conducted by SBGSU units.
"He determined the conditions of the procurement in order to ensure the victory of a company controlled by his accomplice. Despite the accomplices' plans, another enterprise joined the tender, the head of which offered a more advantageous proposal – to supply 270 unmanned aviation systems for UAH 825 million," the report says.
The SAPO notes that upon learning of this, the businessman approached him with a request not to lower the prices for the mentioned technical equipment, since there were already agreements on the victory of his specific enterprise.
However, as the anti-corruption prosecutor's office clarifies, the new participant nevertheless submitted an updated proposal, according to which the total cost decreased to UAH 760 million.
"As a result, it was the new participant who won," the SAPO explains.
According to the report, since the plans to obtain profits from the controlled company were thwarted, the individuals decided to extract a benefit from the tender winner.
Thus, the businessman began to convince him of the necessity to provide a bribe for the trouble-free conclusion and execution of the future contract. He even organized a telephone conversation with an SBGSU representative to finally assure him that all demands were being made with the agreement of the agency's Administration, the SAPO emphasizes.
The amount of the undue advantage was $1 million, i.e., 5-10% of the total amount of the future contract; the individuals planned to divide the funds among themselves and SBGSU officials.
According to the anti-corruption prosecutor's office, the director of the winning company put forward his condition – to meet personally with SBGSU officials.
"During the further investigation, it turned out that in order to maintain ties with the border guards, the owner of the competing company decided to provide a part of these funds by transferring 50,000 Tether (USDT) units to the SBGSU official's cryptocurrency wallet, which amounts to over UAH 2.1 million at the NBU exchange rate," the SAPO clarifies.
Also, as informed by the anti-corruption prosecutor's office, it was established that the SBGSU official repeatedly received and legalized illegal income.
"Thus, throughout January – April 2026, he transferred over UAH 15.4 million into Tether USD (USDT) cryptocurrency. He converted part of these assets into cash, with which he subsequently bought a Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 car, registering it in his wife's name," the report states.
