PRAGNUM defends the leading Ukrainian manufacturer of military equipment

In 2015, events in the eastern regions of Ukraine revealed an acute shortage of modern means of protection for military personnel. Our client decided to develop kevlar helmets for the Ukrainian army, which were supposed to replace the metal ones from World War II. To reduce the weight of the helmets, the client improved the production technology by purchasing a new, lighter and more expensive type of kevlar fabric. This modification led to an increase in production costs but allowed for achieving the desired weight (by reducing the amount of fabric). The development culminated in the client winning a tender for the supply of products for the army.

The client’s competitor that lost the tender did not bother with innovations, but simply initiated criminal proceedings against the client under the article on “fraud” that is a classic for cases like that. As a result, “highly motivated” police officers “promptly” shut down work under the tender.

Even more promptly, PRAGNUM attorneys arranged for expert calculations of the cost of producing helmets before and after improvement, which proved that the client not only failed to make profit, but also lost financially.

We used the minimal rights that the Criminal Procedural Code gives under a “factual” case to our best advantage. Selecting and adapting the witnesses’ explanations “to suit the investigator” (since the investigation could not understand how a smaller amount of fabrics could cost more), initiating the necessary research, comparisons, providing calculations — all this allowed us to convince the investigation in the lack of not only the body of the criminal offence, but also the offence itself. The process was completed by a petition prepared by PRAGNUM to close the criminal proceedings, which was fully satisfied by the investigative authorities.