These violations were identified by internal audit and the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense.
Internally updated The General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense has identified previously committed violations of more than 10 billion hryvnia over the past 4 months.
This was announced by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov.
“One of the Department of Defense team's priorities is to cleanse the system of bad actors – inside and outside the institution. We are actively working on this – in close cooperation with law enforcement agencies, we are eradicating manifestations of corruption. The system is resisting, but we will overcome it,” wrote Rustem Umerov.
The minister added that in four months it was possible to save approximately 3.5 billion hryvnia on all logistics purchases. This is approximately 20% of the planned amount for purchases.
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Umerov recalled that the Ministry of Defense for the first time purchased 50 thousand sets of women's uniforms, 100 thousand electric heating pads and 15 thousand active headphones. Negotiations were held with the headphone supplier to reduce the price and as a result, additional savings of public funds amounted to 11.7 million hryvnia.
Suspicions to officials of the Ministry of Defense
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The former Deputy Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Department of State Procurement and Supply of Material Resources was informed of a new suspicion – about the waste of almost another billion hryvnia on the purchase of body armor.
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On February 1, 2023, the former head of the public procurement department of the Ministry of Defense Bogdan Khmelnitsky, the former deputy minister of defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov and the former deputy of the state enterprise Promoboronexport Vladimir Tereshchenko were informed of suspicion. Khmelnytsky – for embezzling public funds in the amount of UAH 107,796,050 and providing Armed Forces units with low-quality body armor in the amount of 5,700 pieces. Shapovalov was declared for illegal actions, as a result of which certain units of the Armed Forces were not equipped with personal protective equipment worth more than UAH 1 billion. According to the investigation, Khmelnytsky purchased almost 3,000 body armor for the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more than UAH 100 million. However, according to several independent examinations, these products do not meet the requirements of class IV body armor. Suspicions were declared under Part 1 of Art. 114-1 (obstruction of the legitimate activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations), Part 5 of Art. 191 (misappropriation, embezzlement of property or taking possession of it through abuse of official position), Part 2 of Art. 28 (committing a criminal offense by a group of persons).
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Shapovalov and Khmelnitsky were fired in January 2023, amid journalistic investigations about the purchase of products for the army at probably inflated prices.
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In June, they were informed of new suspicions – of embezzlement of more than a billion hryvnia for the purchase of low-quality ammunition. Officials arranged the deal in early March 2022. They purchased almost three thousand body armor from a foreign company for more than UAH 130 million. At the same time, the participants in the transaction appropriated more than UAH 100 million of this amount. A commodity examination initiated by the intelligence service established that the real market value of these protective equipment is only UAH 25 million. Also, the purchased body armor does not correspond to the declared protection class. In addition, the organizers of the “scheme” purchased a wholesale batch of low-quality winter jackets and pants for Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers for a total amount of UAH 900 million.
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In October, the defendants received suspicion in a new episode – during martial law, the suspects organized the purchase of low-quality body armor for more than UAH 250 million, allocated from the state budget. They ordered these personal protective equipment abroad. All contracts were concluded by full subscription. The suspects forced their subordinates to accept low-quality products into military warehouses. Repeated testing of armored plates that did not pass the initial tests was also organized.
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Another suspicion was announced to the former Deputy Minister of Defense in November. According to the investigation, he is in cahoots with a temporary subordinate. Director of the Department of Public Procurement and Supply of Material Resources in June 2022 created conditions for the acquisition of military equipment without testing it in laboratory conditions, but only superficially – by its appearance. This simplified form of acceptance of military equipment was subsequently used by the Ministry to conclude contracts with a Turkish company for the supply of low-quality winter uniforms of military clothing: wind- and moisture-proof jackets and trousers for military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which did not meet the technical conditions, for a total amount of about 1 billion hryvnia.
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