Accounting chamber says Ukraine will lose around UAH 35-40 b in 2009 due to nontransparent public procurement system
Kyiv, September 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine will lose around UAH 35-40 billion this year due to the non-transparency of the public procurement system, Chairman of the Ukrainian Accounting Chamber Valentyn Symonenko has said.
"With the average volume of procurement for this year worth UAH 200 billion, we're losing around UAH 35-40 billion due to the absence of a competitive and transparent system [of public procurement]," he said at a press conference entitled "Economic Risks and Public Procurement" at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
Symonenko said that after the cancellation of the law on the public procurement system in March 2008, activities in this sphere are being regulated by government decisions, including protocol orders that, contrary to the requirements of the constitution, allow customers to make purchases without holding any tenders.
He said that the manual handling of the public procurement system was creating grounds for corruption.
"Up to 20% of all deals concluded on public procurement are simply kickbacks," Symonenko said.