Lawyer explains how to avoid problems with Starlink accounting

Although the Ministry of Defense does not require Starlink to be put on the balance sheet, anti-corruption regulations make it mandatory. Without accounting, the State Audit Service will consider the terminals as illegally obtained property. Dmytro Palyushchenko, head of business support practice at Juscutum, told the text LIGA.net how to minimize risks.

He noted that the government decree on the verification of Starlink terminals does not explicitly require government agencies to put the equipment on their balance sheets. However, the relevant legislation and anti-corruption rules create conditions under which the lack of official accounting can lead to problems for officials with the State Audit Service, as receiving property without registration can be interpreted as receiving property for free for a public authority.

If the property is not reflected in the balance sheet, this may be a legal conflict.

The reality of the risks depends on a specific legal assessment of a particular situation during financial control, the lawyer says.

The State Audit Service analyzes not only procurement, but also the actual use of property, its sources of origin and accounting procedures during inspections of the defense sector. If Starlink terminals are used, but their legal status is not documented, this may be considered a violation of the procedure for accounting for state property or budget discipline.

If an audit, whether internal or external, reveals terminals with questions about their origin/accounting, there are several possible scenarios, Palyushchenko says:

→ Recommendations or requirements to correct the accounting of property. The auditors may require that the accounting be brought into compliance with the law (i.e., to ensure balance sheet accounting), with justification of the sources of income.

→ Administrative or disciplinary remarks to responsible persons – this is possible if the audit finds that information on property is not reflected, which could create corruption risks.

→ Criminal liability is unlikely without clear evidence of abuse, intent or personal gain, but it will depend on additional circumstances.

"Administrative or disciplinary liability is more typical in such cases," the lawyer states.

To minimize risks, you need to collect all available documents on the receipt of Starlink terminals. These include acts, orders, correspondence, and acceptance certificates. If necessary, the right to use/ownership should be properly formalized through local internal documents (commander's orders, inventories, registers). It is also necessary to prepare an internal accounting register and submit a notification under Resolution No. 115 in the prescribed manner.

Next, legal support should be sought to assess anti-corruption risks, in particular with regard to the application of Article 54 of the law on the prevention of corruption, and to ensure a transparent procedure for accounting and control of the use of property with clear powers of responsible persons.

• on February 1, it became known that unverified Starlink terminals in Ukraine will be disabled as part of the fight against Russian drones that used the terminals for attacks.
• february 2 The Ministry of Defense has published an instructionhow to verify the terminal.