Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Ukraine’s defense minister rejects new corruption allegations regarding military supplies, amid allegations of buying uniforms at inflated prices during the war with Russia.
Some media reported that the ministry signed a contract late last year with a Turkish company to supply winter combat uniforms, but the price tripled after the signing of the deal.
Ukrainian journalists also specify that winter gear can be purchased in Turkey at significantly lower prices.
They also reported that one of the owners of the Turkish company was Oleksandre Kassai, a nephew of Gennadi Kassai, who is a member of the same party as President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov denounced the accusations as lies and said the price charged was as advertised.
“I urge everyone to treat information more critically and responsibly, because it misleads society and, what is even worse, misleads our partners, because from the outside you will perceive it as a disaster,” Reznikov told a news conference. , Tuesday (29/8/2023).
“Everything is done in accordance with the law on public procurement and through tender procedures,” he stressed.
Previous corruption scandals relating to army supplies led to a senior Ukrainian official being removed from office in January after media revealed that contracts the ministry had signed to buy food products for soldiers showed similar amounts to exaggeration.
On that occasion, Reznikov acknowledged the anti-corruption service in his ministry had “failed in its duties”.
Earlier this month, Zelensky sacked all regional officials in charge of military recruitment to combat corruption, including allowing some conscripts to escape military service.
Since the start of this year, there have been other corruption cases in a country that has long been endemic to corruption. This led the European Union to urge Kyiv to take strong action before they even think about becoming a member of the bloc.
Ukraine is ranked 116th out of 180 countries in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index released by campaign group Transparency International. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk via the Telegram application on Sunday said that currently Kyiv depends on law enforcement from corruption.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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