The scandalous company with falsified bulletproof vests has again received a state order: now in the Kyiv region

The scandalous company with falsified bulletproof vests has again received a state order: now in the Kyiv region

In June 2024, the Police Guard Department in the Kyiv region held a tender for the procurement of 250 plate carriers for official use. The winner of the procedure was the private company LLC "Strila" from Kamyanske, Dnipropetrovsk region, which is already involved in a criminal case regarding the supply of defective bulletproof vests.

The amount of the new contract is 637,500 UAH.

History of the previous tender: Kharkiv region

LLC "Strila" is involved in a case concerning the procurement of substandard bulletproof vests by the Police Guard Department in the Kharkiv region for a total of 887,000 UAH in 2023. According to the investigation, officials of the PGD conspired with the director of LLC "Strila," Oleksandr Lobantsev, to ensure the company’s victory in the tender.

Specifically, senior legal advisor Nataliya Hubina and senior weapon inspector Oleh Ishchenko, with the consent of former law enforcement officer Ruslan Yalyseyenko, added requirements to the tender documentation that limited competition (the presence of DSTU ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certificates). This allowed LLC "Strila" to avoid competition with other suppliers.

Subsequently, the company attached a forged ballistic plate test protocol to its tender proposal, which, as revealed during an examination, was falsified. The products did not meet the declared 4th level of protection — the ballistic plates failed ballistic tests and were deemed to pose a risk to users’ lives.

Court decision and criminal consequences

In October 2023, the Economic Court of the Dnipropetrovsk region ruled to recover damage in the amount of 887,000 UAH and a penalty of 62,000 UAH from LLC "Strila." The court separately noted the critical non-compliance of the products and the presence of signs of document forgery.

Furthermore, all participants in the tender conspiracy were suspected of Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misappropriation or embezzlement of property in especially large amounts) and complicity in this scheme.

New contracts with involved parties

Despite the open criminal case and the court’s acknowledgment of falsifications, LLC "Strila" continues to win state tenders. In June 2024, this same company received a contract from the PGD in the Kyiv region. Six firms submitted bids for participation in the tender, three of which advanced to the final stage.

The lowest bid was offered by LLC "Ukrainian Cossacks" (625,500 UAH), but the proposal was rejected due to the absence of a laboratory protocol. The proposal from LLC "Material Science" was also rejected due to a lack of confirmation of material compliance.

As a result, the company, which previously supplied defective equipment deemed unfit for use and did not voluntarily return funds to the budget, won the tender.