Kyiv court arrests Defense Ministry officials in faulty bulletproof vests case

14:52, 15.11.2019 1 min read

The Kyiv Pechersky District Court has ordered restrictive measures for five officials of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry suspected of procuring faulty bulletproof vests for the country's Armed Forces.

Three officials were arrested with the possibility of paying bail of UAH 76 million each, while the other two were put under house arrest, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.

The five officers of the Defense Ministry were indicted on November 5 by investigators probing the procurement of faulty bulletproof vests. The suspects are head of the main directorate for the development and material support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Dmytro Marchenko, his two deputies, and two other senior officials.

According to the investigators, Marchenko conspired with four officials from his directorate and failed to take necessary measures in the period between April and June 2019, which resulted in the procurement of 11,000 faulty Korsar M3s-1-4 bulletproof vests for a total sum of UAH 100 million.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Roman Truba said that 79 in 100 bulletproof vests are not strong enough to stop bullets.