Two ministries affected: unrest in Kyiv due to allegations of corruption

Two Ukrainian ministries are being confronted with allegations of corruption. While the Ministry of Defense has to justify itself because of the overpriced purchase of groceries, another department is dealing with bribery.

Two Ukrainian ministries were caught up in possible corruption scandals over the weekend. According to the Ukrainian news website “zn.ua”, the Ministry of Defense is accused of having concluded a contract for the procurement of food at prices that were “two to three times” higher than the usual purchase prices. According to “zn.ua”, the contract has a volume of the equivalent of 325 million euros.

The contract is not supposed to be about feeding the soldiers at the front – which could explain the high prices due to the logistics – but in the rear. Such inflated prices were not only paid for food, the vice chair of the National Security Committee commented on Facebook. The journalists from “zn.ua” also sense a possible corruption scandal in the important Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry of Defense rejected the allegations. The rations for the soldiers were purchased in accordance with “the legally established procedure,” the ministry said. Media reports to the contrary are “wrong”. An investigation will be launched into the dissemination of this “misleading” information, which harms Ukraine’s “defense interests”.

Minister to comment in Parliament

The ministry referred to internal control mechanisms designed to prevent corruption. At the same time, it announced an internal audit of purchasing food for soldiers. An emergency meeting with department head Oleksiy Resnikov is also planned for Monday. If violations are found by Defense Department officials, they will be “held accountable under applicable law.”

The Vice Chair of the Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Marjana Besugla, had already announced on Saturday that she would invite Reznikov to a parliamentary hearing. In addition, the Court of Auditors will take a close look at the Ministry of Defense.

$400,000 buying overpriced generators

The case in the Ukrainian Ministry for the Development of Communities and Territories seems to be much more concrete: Deputy Minister Vasyl Losynskyj was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of bribery, the Ukrainian anti-corruption authority (Nabu) announced. According to a report in the Internet newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda, the deputy minister’s apartment had previously been searched.

Losynskyj received $400,000 “to facilitate the conclusion of contracts to purchase equipment and generators at inflated prices,” Nabu said. The investigation has been ongoing since September, it said. Ukraine has been struggling with widespread power outages for months because of Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

At the beginning of November, after a change at the head of the authority, Losynskyj was even the acting minister for a short time before he had to resign to the second rank. The ministry said on Facebook that it fully supports the investigation. Losynskyj will be removed from office. The corresponding documents are already available to Deputy Prime Minister Olexandr Kubrakov.

The fight against corruption is progressing slowly

Ukraine was granted EU candidate status in June, four months after Russia launched a war of aggression against the country. The conditions for accession include the rule of law and progress in the fight against corruption, where Ukraine, despite numerous efforts in recent years, still ranks at the bottom in the world.