Defense minister likens graft to terrorism, vows to root it out
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Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has compared corruption to terrorism and pledged to eradicate it, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported on Nov. 15.
"Where and what do we, as the Ministry of Defense, want to achieve?" Umerov said.
“First, it is the corruption component. For me, the notion of graft or war profiteering is something that needs to be stopped. I didn't start it, but I want to end it.”
The department is also drawing up early contracts so that the contracts are concluded over one year, three years, or ten years.
"Why are we doing this? In order to meet urgent needs and (achieve) important things," he said.
Under the previous defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, the Defense Ministry was rocked by corruption scandals in the area of procurement.
On Jan. 21, the ZN.UA news website published an investigation by journalist Yuriy Nikolov, who made public an agreement between the Defense Ministry and the military in six rear regions worth more than UAH 13 billion ($358 million). In the document, wholesale prices for some products were inflated by two to three times compared to retail prices in the Silpo chain of supermarkets in Kyiv.
For example, the Ministry of Defense contracted for eggs at UAH 17 ($0.47) each, while the retail price in the store was about UAH 7 ($0.19) each. This sparked the greatest backlash, especially when the ministry tried to explain that they were purchasing eggs by the kilogram rather than by the piece.
At the time, Reznikov called the scandal an attempt to undermine confidence in the leadership of the department.
The supplier company involved in the scandalous investigation denied the allegations of price gouging and called the information presented in the media manipulative. The company also called for an investigation into the leak of classified information.
The President's Office simultaneously announced an inspection.
Subsequently, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal ordered the development of a new procurement system for the Defense Ministry, and Reznikov said that the ministry would partially return public control over army procurement.
Amid the scandal, on Jan. 24, Deputy Defense Minister Viacheslav Shapovalov, who was responsible for logistics of the Armed Forces, resigned. On Jan. 25, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, the head of the Defense Ministry's procurement department, was fired.
On Feb. 1, the State Bureau of Investigation pressed charges against Shapovalov, and on Feb. 2, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv ordered his arrest.
On Feb. 24, the Ukrainian parliament passed a bill on a transparent defense procurement system that provides for the publication of prices for defense customers to buy goods for the military and other goods and services for the Armed Forces in the Prozorro system.
Procurement under the new procedures began in June. In an interview with NV, Nikolov said that, according to his calculations, the price of basic goods under the food contracts had fallen so much that the annual savings amounted to UAH 10 billion ($276 million).
After another corruption scandal involving the purchase of winter clothing for the military, Reznikov resigned on Sept. 4, and the Verkhovna Rada dismissed him the next day.
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