Earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov.
After procurement scandal Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, director of the procurement department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for military products, has been dismissed.
How reported head of the anti-corruption committee of the Verkhovna Rada Anastasia Radina, at the meeting of the committee on January 24, the deputies heard the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov regarding such purchases. In particular, according to the minister, now the food of the military is provided according to last year’s contracts.
“Together with my colleagues, we will check the documents and prices. As far as I understand, the document made public by the journalists corresponds to an appendix to one of the new contracts of the Ministry of Defense, which have not yet entered into force. The Ministry of Defense reported that they found errors in this and other contracts, and to correct them, checks and examination of prices,” Radina said.
Also at the committee, Reznikov stated that the ministry has no legal claims against the author of the journalistic investigation.
“Instead, Khmelnytskyi, the director of the procurement department of the Ministry of Defense, and Shapovalov, the relevant deputy minister, were dismissed,” the deputy said.
According to her, Reznikov also reported that the Ministry explains the price difference in contracts with suppliers from market prices by the components of food services, in particular, transport services and an “allowance” for inflation.
“Does this mean that the issue has been exhausted? No. The effort of the Ministry of Defense to correct the contracts before the funds are paid for them is positive. We will check the results. However, this is not enough. It is time to change the approach to procurement. The state should not spend time and money on examination prices after the conclusion of agreements (and after a public scandal or indeed the discovery of a mistake). And it is possible and necessary to structure the purchase of goods in such a way that the prices still approach market prices, and do not increase due to additional services and it is not yet known why,” Radina added.
She clarified that the parliamentarians have already taken the first step towards this – they have registered draft law No. 8381 regarding the return of certain transparency in defense procurement. In particular, they propose to oblige the Ministry of Defense and other defense customers 10 days after the conclusion of the contract to publish in the Prozorro system information on the unit cost of goods purchased with budget funds, the cost of works or services (except for weapons and secret purchases).
“The next step should be the reform of the system of procurement of physical support for the army. For example, the refusal of purchases in lots that combine 400 goods and services for their delivery and more – will promote competition and help reduce the price,” – believes the head of the anti-corruption committee Verkhovna Rada.
The scandal with the purchase of food for the Armed Forces
As UNIAN reported, on January 21, “Mirror of the Week” reported that the Ministry of Defense signed an agreement for UAH 13.16 billion with a company with a charter capital of UAH 1,000, which, according to the publication, indicates that the agreement was a “gasket company” was created.
The publication claimed that it has a Ministry of Defense agreement for food organization services in 2023 for military units stationed in the Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions far from the contact line.
On January 23, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau reported that began an investigation about the purchase of food for the army even before publicity in the mass media. In particular, among other things, the investigation is checking purchases worth more than UAH 13 billion. Previous legal qualification – Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, waste of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position).
On January 24, Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov resigned amid the scandal, the Cabinet of Ministers fired him on the same day. People’s deputy Victoria Syumar also reported that the head of the Ministry of Defense admitted, that there are several in the contract. errors