Law enforcement has charged Bohdan Dovbysh, the head of Dronika, with embezzling 5.7 million hryvnias ($138,157) in state funds by supplying substandard drones to the military while claiming they were top-quality. Dovbysh declined to comment on the allegations, according to Slidstvo.Info.
The Shepetivka District Prosecutor’s Office has indicted the supplier of drones for the military ordered by the Netishyn Town Council in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. Law enforcement officials believe that the suspect organized a scheme to seize budget funds.
According to the investigation, the head of a company that produces aircraft and related equipment organized a scheme to misappropriate budget funds.
“In January 2024, the company won a tender announced by the Netishyn Town Council for the purchase of FPV drones to supply the Defense Forces. In January-April 2024, the parties concluded a number of contracts for the purchase of 1,000 FPV drones worth more than 16.4 million hryvnias ($426,928),” the prosecutors wrote.
Every hryvnia can become our new investigation. Join the Slidstvo Club. Support our work!
Journalists from Slidstvo.Info analyzed the procurement of Netishyn Town Council and identified the suspect.
From January to April 2024, the Executive Committee of the Netishyn Town Council concluded four contracts (1, 2, 3, 4 – ed.) with Dronika LLC for the supply of 1,100 FPV drones. The total value of the contracts is 18.2 million hryvnias ($473,564).
Dronika has been on the market for less than a year, founded and currently managed by Bohdan Dovbysh. Slidstvo.info journalists called the businessman to get his opinion on the law enforcement accusations, but he refused to comment.
Prosecutors believe that Bohdan Dovbysh decided to make money and significantly “cheapened” the production. Instead of the video cameras and video transmitters provided for in the tender and technical documentation, the drones were equipped with devices of lower quality and almost twice as cheap. Thus, the suspect misappropriated over 5.7 million hryvnias ($138,157) of budget funds.
Purchased drones / photo by the OPG
Law enforcement officers charge Dovbysh with misappropriating budget funds on a large scale by an organized group (Article 191 (5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The businessman faces 12 years in prison, a three-year ban on engaging in certain activities, and property confiscation.
The indictment being served / photo by the OPG
During its existence, Dronika LLC has entered into 33 contracts with state customers, with a total value of 25.4 million hryvnias ($668,249). The company’s largest customer is the Netishyn Town Council, with contracts worth almost 20 million hryvnias ($525,700). Dronika also supplies a small amount of its products to government customers from the Ternopil and Lviv oblasts.
Bohdan Dovbush is the founder of several legal entities: Dronika LLC and Global Import Solutions LLC, which list over a thousand types of activities in their scope of operations. In April 2023, the entrepreneur registered the Power of Community charitable foundation.
