Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov informed the situation around the scandalous purchases of jackets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine by his department. According to him, last year the Ministry of Defense bought 180,000 winter jackets from Turkey for $86 each, and it is not known where the price of $29 came from in Turkish documents. The minister spoke about this LIGA.net.
“Each jacket cost $86 (which now corresponds to 3,177 hryvnias). Why in some Turkish documents the price of a winter jacket is $29 (now it is 1,072 hryvnias) – I do not know. Perhaps we are talking about tax evasion in Turkey”, Reznikov said.
The head of the Ministry of Defense invited everyone to “drive to Turkey and buy a batch of winter jackets for 1,072 hryvnias, and have it in a few weeks.”
In this regard, Reznikov said that neither the head of the anti-corruption committee of the Rada, Anastasia Radina, nor the journalist of the UP, Mikhail Tkach, accepted his challenge regarding the bet over the procurement scandal.
“Accordingly, their accusations of replacing summer jackets with winter ones were not true. It is complete irresponsibility to publish unverified information about the supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a hurry during the war,” the minister stressed.
On the morning of August 26, Radina responded to Reznikov’s call. She suggested that the head of the Defense Ministry, before 09:00 on August 28, refute the fact that the department purchased jackets without a tender from a “Turkish” intermediary company, one of the owners of which was the nephew of MP Gennady Kasai. Otherwise, she will lay down the mandate.
Later, Tkach spoke on this subject. He suggested that Reznikov “conclude not a bet, but contracts for purchases at market prices and not with relatives of the ‘servants of the people.’
- Earlier, Reznikov suggested to the couple, based on the results of an investigation by Ukrainskaya Pravda and the Anti-Corruption Action Center, that the defense department allegedly purchased 180,000 summer jackets from a Turkish company instead of winter jackets at a several times higher cost.
- On August 10, 2023, journalist Yuri Nikolov, citing customs sources, reported that the Ministry of Defense allegedly purchased 233,000 winter jackets from the Turkish company Vector avia hava araçlari for $20 million. According to documents, the cost of a batch of 4,900 jackets on the way from Turkey to Ukraine has tripled . In addition, given the weight of the jackets, they seemed to be summer, not winter. LIGA.net wrote more about this here.
- On July 12, the Cabinet of Ministers corrected a mistake that required businesses to work with the Ministry of Defense without profit.
See also: Scandal with jackets for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: People’s Deputy from the Servant of the People is involved in the deal – UP
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