Recently ousted State Communications Service head arrested on embezzlement charges in Kyiv
The High Anti-Corruption Court has arrested Yury Shchyhol, the recently ousted head of Ukraine's State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection. Investigative judge Viktor Maslov announced that Shchyhol can obtain release if he pays 25 million hryvnias ($694,000) in bail.
According to the investigation, Shchyhol and other officials as part of the organized group "took possession of budget funds in a particularly large amount, totaling more than 62 million hryvnias ($1.7 million)."
According to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, in 2021 the procurement of software for the creation of systems of protected data registers took place. The winner of the tender was a company allegedly controlled by Shchyhol.
It supplied software at an inflated cost to the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Special Systems, which belongs to the State Special Communications Service.
The difference between the real price and the price received amounted to 62 million hryvnias ($1.7 million), which the participants in the corruption scheme allegedly transferred to the accounts of controlled companies abroad.
On November 22, the anti-graft court arrested the main suspect in embezzlement, businessman Roman Koval.
