Viktor Zhora, a former deputy head of the State Special Communications Service, was detained on Nov. 27 in connection to a state funds embezzlement scheme, the High Anti-Corruption Court reported.
Zhora, the service's former head Yurii Shchyhol, and four others are suspected of embezzling Hr 62 million ($1.7 million) in state funds allocated for the purchase of equipment and software between 2020 and 2022.
In collusion with a director of a state-owned enterprise and an owner of a group of companies, the officials concluded contracts at the value of Hr 285 million ($7.9 million) for software and services worth only Hr 223 million ($6.2 million).
The perpetrators allegedly took possession of the difference between the two sums.
Zhora is to be held in pretrial detention for two months with bail set at Hr 10 million $276,000.
Shchyhol was detained on Nov. 23 but released from custody on a Hr 25 million ($693,000) bail one day later.
The government dismissed both officials from their posts on Nov. 20, with Shchyhol's first deputy, Dmytro Makovsky, appointed the acting head of the State Special Communications Service.
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