American billionaire and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk has spread disinformation that a “Zelenskyy’s Ministry of Defence official” allegedly stole US$46 million by buying a villa, a vineyard and 27 plots of land in France.

Source: Musk on X (Twitter), Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)

Details: Musk shared a false post with the comment, “Tip of the iceberg”. The original post read: “French police say Zelenskyy’s defence ministry official stole US$46 m, not the reported US$40 m, buying a Villa in France for US$2,500,000, a vineyard for US$6,500,000 and 27 land plots for US$1,000,000. How many billions were looted by Zelenskyy’s other associates?”

At the same time, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office on Saturday published a report suggesting that the person in question is Dmytro Perehudov, the former head of the Yanukovych-era Ukrspecexport and Ukroboronprom (Ukraine’s Defence Industry), who has been on the wanted list since 2017.

Quote from the SAPO: “Under the procedural supervision of the SAPO prosecutor, NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine – ed.] detectives served a notice of suspicion to the former CEO of a state-owned company authorised by the state to act as an intermediary in foreign economic activity in the field of export and import of military and special-purpose products and services.

In 2011-2012, he held the positions of head of Ukrspecexport and Ukroboronprom pursuant to decrees issued by the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych.

The pre-trial investigation established that the person’s criminal activity covered not only the years of his tenure in these positions but also four years after his dismissal, namely until 2016.

During this period, funds obtained through sham agency agreements for the sale of Ukrainian military equipment—signed with front companies without the intent to execute them—were laundered. The sum in question exceeds US$46 million, of which €13 million (US$13.6 million) was transferred through several intermediary firms directly into the suspect’s accounts.

The suspect has been wanted since 2017. According to the investigation, the person is in the territory of the French Republic.’

Details: It is noted that for the illegally withdrawn funds, this person purchased luxury real estate in the French Republic, in particular: a villa worth UAH 86 million (US$2 million); a winery, corporate rights and 105 land plots with a total value of UAH 229 million (US$5,5 million); 27 wine plots worth UAH 37 million (US$888,000). As of today, the aforementioned property has been seized by a French court.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office notes that the case of money laundering was transferred by the French law enforcement agencies to the NABU and the SAPO in the framework of international cooperation.

Reference: Dmytro Perehudov served as acting director general of Ukrspetsexport from 4 January 2011, to 2 February 2012, succeeding Dmytro Salamatin, who had been nominated by the chairman of Ukroboronprom. Salamatin was the head of Ukroboronprom from February to June 2012, following his appointment as Ukraine’s Minister of Defence.

Serhii Hromov was appointed Director General of Ukroboronprom on 26 June, 2012, and he returned to lead Ukrspetsexport, first as interim Director General and then as Director General since December 2012. On 12 July, 2013, he was removed from his employment.

In 2021, the High Anti-Corruption Court remanded Salamatin and Perehudov to custody in absentia on charges of embezzling more than US$23.87 million.

Salamatin has been hiding from law enforcement since 2014, and Perehudov since 2017.