In particular, public control over the procurement of tangible property and food by the Ministry of Defense will be returned.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov spoke about the changes that have taken place in the procurement system for the army after the recent scandal.

The minister announced this on social media. “The process of improvement in the Ministry of Defense continues continuously. On June 29, 2022, a decision was made to carry out an unscheduled inspection of the army’s food supply by the internal audit of the Ministry of Defense. In the autumn, the relevant structures were comprehensively inspected by both the internal audit and state auditors,” Rezyen said.

He informed that the preliminary conclusions of the audit were prepared in December 2022 and according to the procedure, they are now being processed by the specialized procurement department, after which the minister will officially approve the results.

“The audit showed that the system of procurement and control needs changes. It was the audit that accelerated the process of reorganization of the procurement system in the rear support and led to personnel decisions regarding persons whose decency was justified… I personally and the team as a whole drew conclusions from history, which led to a public outcry. We were not open enough, so we could not explain the results of our work, which correspond to public demand. We did not create sufficient mechanisms that guarantee trust. This is a mistake that will be corrected,” added the head of the Ministry of Defense.

He noted that now is the time for the “next steps”.

“My first task in the field of food for the Armed Forces was to eliminate the monopoly. This task has been solved – instead of one supplier, which was a year ago, in 2022 their number increased to 5, and by 2023 we concluded contracts with 8 companies. Analysis of the current procurement system during the active phase of the war, it showed both individual advantages and significant disadvantages. It should be improved,” the minister is confident.

Reznikov emphasized that the priority for the Ministry of Defense is to ensure the continuity and quality of food, but it is necessary to find a balance with society’s desire to see transparent processes and control them.

That is why such steps have already been taken. Very meaningful conversations were held in two parliamentary committees, recommendations of people’s deputies were received. I supported the initiative of the deputies to find a way to open a part of the defense purchases during the war for proper control over the public finances. property, PMM, food, taking into account the restrictions of the martial law,” he said.

The head of the Ministry of Education and Culture also announced that he had given orders to conduct an analysis of prices and the process of their formation, to reduce the term of the contract with suppliers and to develop new approaches that will include mechanisms of transparency and accountability, the transition to menus (rations) with preservation of product variety, publication of prices, etc. building

“We will apply these tools to increase the transparency of purchases not only for food, but also for tangible property, PMM. We are currently conducting a price check across the entire range. I will personally monitor the implementation of this plan and report to civil society on progress and results,” he promised. .

Also, according to Reznikov, an internal rule for the reconciliation of all prices during the conclusion of contracts with the register of the Ministry of Economy and market prices has been introduced, and the details of the concluded contract will be published on the website of the Ministry of Defense later, including the number and date of conclusion (for identification), price per unit, links to public technical conditions of purchase (on the website of the Ministry of Defense or in general access for PMM, partly for food, etc.).

He also specified that he had appealed to two committees of the Verkhovna Rada to hold a joint meeting on mechanisms for changes in procurement, accountability and civilian democratic control.

“In addition, yesterday I signed more than 20 invitations to various organizations specializing in anti-corruption activities, individual investigative media representatives, and defense reform experts with the proposal to hold a joint meeting and discuss the necessary steps. I am convinced that with joint efforts we will be able to a mechanism that will lay the foundations for a future transparent, accountable, and at the same time reliable and secure army support system,” the minister believes.

Scandal with purchases at the Ministry of Defense

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 a “front company” was created for the agreement.

The publication claimed that it had 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 they had started an investigation into the purchase of food for the army even before it was publicized in the 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 (“appropriation, waste of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position”).

On January 24, Deputy Minister of Defense Vyacheslav Shapovalov resigned amid the scandal, the Cabinet of Ministers fired him on the same day. Also, after the scandal, the Director of the Procurement Department, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, was dismissed.

Currently, military food is provided according to last year’s contracts.

On January 30, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed relevant departments to develop an updated procurement system for the army with the publication of prices. For this purpose, a working group will be created, which will consider the possibility of creating a separate section for military needs in the Prozorro system.