Apartments in Bali and rotten vegetables for the AFU: SBI uncovers the scheme of Chief of Supplies Svyrydov and "Busk Canning Factory"

Member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, Tetyana Nikolayenko, in her post on Facebook, named the head of the food supply service and the supplier company suspected by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) of corruption in the supply of food products. According to her, it concerns Kostyantyn Svyrydov (25th Airborne Brigade) and LLC "Busk Cannery."

On February 9, the State Bureau of Investigation reported the exposure of a corruption scheme in the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the investigation, the suspects signed acts for the full volume of products, while in reality, only a part was delivered. The rest was written off through controlled individuals.

In addition to under-deliveries, rotten vegetables and fruits were supplied to the military. For accepting substandard goods and not filing complaints, the official received "kickbacks" of up to 50% of the supply cost. In a week, the amount could exceed 1 million UAH.

According to the SBI, Svyrydov lived a luxurious lifestyle that did not match the income of a military officer. During searches, documents for real estate, premium cars, a collection of branded clothing worth over 8 million UAH, and IOUs for 120,000 USD were seized from the head of food supply.

On February 20, the SBI announced new suspicions. Investigators established that in 2024, the head of food supply purchased apartments in Bali for 190,000 USD. In just one store in Dnipro, he spent nearly 2.5 million UAH on clothing. According to preliminary estimates, the value of the acquired property exceeds 10 million UAH. The court chose a preventive measure – detention with an alternative bail of 9 million UAH.

The supplier was not named in the SBI reports. However, the journalist indicated that it concerns LLC "Busk Cannery." Last year, the company received state contracts worth 10.06 billion UAH for the supply of food products to the military. With such results, the company ranked sixth in the ranking of the largest tender contractors in Ukraine for 2025, following state giants like "Naftogaz of Ukraine," "Ukrnafta," and ahead of Viktor Pinchuk’s "Interpipe."

LLC "Busk Cannery" is owned by Oleksandr Lapshyn, Olena Muranova, and Roman Soloviy, and is managed by Mariya Dizhak.

The company is connected to a well-known figure in a corruption scandal, Ihor Hrynkevych. He is under arrest on suspicion of supplying substandard military clothing to the Armed Forces of Ukraine worth over 1 billion UAH. The owner of "Busk Cannery," Oleksandr Lapshyn, lent money to Hrynkevych’s wife for the purchase of two apartments in Kyiv’s Novopecherski Lypky. Later, he became the owner of this property due to the Hrynkevychs’ debt.

Earlier, «Our Money» reported that "Busk Cannery" is involved in a criminal case by the SBI regarding the possible embezzlement of budget funds during the procurement of food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Investigators suspected that the plant’s management colluded with officials of the State Enterprise "State Rear Operator" to conclude direct contracts at inflated prices.

According to case materials, out of a food catalog containing over 400 items, the plant supplied only a few dozen of the cheapest items but sold them to the state at artificially inflated prices. Additionally, the weight of food sets was systematically reduced, high-quality goods were substituted with cheaper analogs, and products that did not meet state safety standards were supplied.

Despite over 170 officially recorded violations of contract execution by the company, defence ministry officials took no responsive measures, leading to probable losses of over 1.54 billion UAH.

Darya Kalenyuk, "CPC"

«The fact that such schemes under the so-called «catalog» still exist is the direct responsibility of the already former Minister Rustem Umerov, as well as the head of the Agency for Defence Procurement, Arsen Zhumadilov, who remains in his position. Both diligently pretended to have solved the problem through PR about the results of the State Rear Operator (SRO). Now we see – both were simply lying. Because in over two years of the SRO’s existence, honest retail has not come to supply food for the army. They understand that the supply rules remain opaque. And at almost every stage of the supply chain, kickbacks are expected from them. If Zhumadilov, during his entire time at the SRO, couldn’t even fix the procurement of food for the army – I’m terrified to imagine what is happening now with weapon procurement, which since 2025 has also been transferred under his control» – commented Darya Kalenyuk, Executive Director of the «Center for Countering Corruption.»

Author: Oksana Tsokur

Source: «Our Money»