Director of Procurement Department Khmelnytsky dismissed from Defense Ministry – Head of Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee
Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Director of the Procurement Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and Viacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Defense Minister, were fired in connection with the scandal over the purchase of food for military personnel, Anastasia Radina, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, has said.
"Director of the Procurement Department of the Ministry of Defense Khmelnytsky and relevant Deputy Minister Shapovalov have been fired," Radina wrote on Facebook following a committee meeting with the participation of Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.
According to her, the minister said that food was supplied to the military under contracts last year.
"Together with colleagues, we will check the documents and prices. As far as I understand, the document published by journalists corresponds to the annex to one of the new contracts of the Ministry of Defense, which have not yet entered into force. The Ministry of Defense reported that they found errors in this and other contracts and are undergoing checks to correct them and examination of prices," Radina said.
She said that the prices in contracts that have not yet entered into force and are under examination are different for different suppliers, but some prices really differ from the market ones and not for the better.
"The ministry explains this by the components of the food service, in particular, transport services and an adjustment for inflation," she added.
Radina said that the state should change its approach to procurement in the current situation.
"The state should not waste time and money on price examination after the conclusion of deals (and after a public scandal or indeed after detecting an error). And the procurement of goods can and must be structured so that prices still approach market prices, and not grow due to additional services or something unknown. My colleagues and I have already taken the first step – we have registered bill No. 8381 on the return of certain transparency to defense procurement," she said.
Earlier it was reported about the dismissal of Deputy Minister of Defense Shapovalov.