The case of purchases for the military: The NABU told what status Reznikov is in
3 апреля 14:58
former Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov is not currently in the status of a suspect or a witness in the case of embezzlement of state funds during the purchase of food for the AFU.
The head of the first main division of detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Oleksandr Abakumov, said this on the air of Radio Liberty, Коммерсант украинский reports.
Asked whether the NABU can include Reznikov on witness lists or summon him for questioning or conversation, Abakumov said that if there is evidence, other people can also be informed of suspicion.
«If a person commented or participated in the commission of a crime, his actions will be assessed. However, it makes no difference to us whether it is a minister, a deputy minister, or another official. At this stage, we have concluded that we have enough evidence to report suspicion of five persons,» he said.
Now the pre-trial investigation and collection of evidence continues, and after that will be able to make a decision on the announcement of additional suspicions or on sending the proceedings to court.
On the eve of the NABU together with the Specialized anti-corruption Prosecutor’s office announced the suspicion of five defendants in the case on the purchase of products for the AFU in 2022-2023 years at inflated prices. Among them is the former head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense.
What is known about the purchases?
It all started with the material of the publication ZN.UA from January 21, 2023, in which journalists claimed that the prices for the most popular products in the agreement of the Ministry of Defense were 2-3 times higher than in stores in Kiev.
The publication provided a copy of the agreement of the Ministry of Defense for catering services in 2023 for military units deployed in Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions, worth UAH 13.16 billion.
For example, as journalists noted, the Ministry of Defense contracted eggs for 17 hryvnias per piece, while the retail price in Kiev stores is now about 7 hryvnias per piece. And potatoes were ordered for 22 hryvnias per kilogram, when the retail price in the store is 8-9 hryvnias.
The material caused a strong reaction. The leadership of the Ministry of Defense was summoned to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence. And the advisor to the head of the Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on the air of the only TV marathon that the topic of probable overpricing is already being discussed «at different levels».
The Defense Ministry then called the information about the purchase of overpriced products manipulative.
However, the then Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on January 21 appealed to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Oleksandr Zavitnevich with a request to immediately hold a meeting and hear information about the purchase of food services for military personnel for 2023 with the participation of representatives of the NABU, GBR and SBU.
The NABU and SAP reported that possible abuses of the Defense Ministry in the procurement of food for the military are being investigated as part of criminal proceedings, which were launched even before such information was made public in the media. The ministry said that the investigation was checking purchases worth more than 13bn hryvnyas.
