Ukraine’s military received drones from a European partner at heavily inflated prices, with losses reaching tens of millions of dollars.
Czech company Reactive Drone spent roughly 36 million Czech koruna on Chinese-made drones and resold them to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 692 million koruna - about $28 million - nearly 20 times the purchase price, according to iRozhlas.
Reporters say the company paid almost nothing into the Czech budget. Most of the profits were routed to accounts in China, and the firm did not pay corporate income tax, the outlet reported.
Detectives from the National Center for Combating Organized Crime have charged Reactive Drone’s leadership and its accountant with tax evasion. The state’s losses are estimated at about 130 million koruna and are still rising, authorities said.
Reactive Drone is registered to a residential building on the outskirts of Prague. Residents told reporters they had never heard of the company, which was established in June 2022.
Police have arrested the company’s director and accountant and seized 384 million koruna from company accounts. Investigators say that amount should be enough to fully cover the damage to the state budget.
