Ex-State Special Communications Service deputy head arrested with bail

Ex-deputy head of the State Special Communications Service Viktor Zhora has been elected a pre-trial restriction – detention with the right to bail in the amount of 10 million hryvnias ($275,778), reported the press service of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

According to the investigation, the former head of the State Special Communications Service, Yuriy Shchyhol, and other officials in the organized group "seized a particularly large amount of budget funds totalling over 62 million hryvnais ($1.7 million)" during the purchase of software for the creation of systems of protected data registers.

Shchyhol was confined to the pre-trial detention center, but the same day he was released from custody on bail of 25 million hryvnias ($689,445).

On November 20, the State Special Communications Service asserted that all procurements since 2020 had been carried out in compliance with current legislation, and urged to refrain from making accusations against officials until the court's decision.