The field of military procurement is becoming the subject of massive corruption within the Ministry of Defense. Reports of corruption trends in this area are a cause for serious concern, especially when it comes to the misuse of large sums of money that should be directed to the needs of the Armed Forces.
The corruption component in procurement for the Armed Forces of Ukraine can reach 25-30%. The total turnover reaches almost 50 billion hryvnias, according to the Kyiv Post investigation.
Investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov told reporters that at least 10 billion hryvnias ($250 million) were spent illegally or overpaid due to inflated prices.
The publication analyzes in detail the food procurement plan of the Ministry of Defense drawn up in December 2023. The wholesale price of meat in it was twice as high as the prices in markets and supermarkets. Officials raised the price of vegetables by 20%.
"Controlling organizations cannot check procurement contracts for the army, which leaves wide room for corruption. The state announces tenders for supplier firms. Then suppliers purchase products from manufacturers and deliver them to military units," the material reads.
The authors highlight three aspects that create fertile ground for corruption in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine:
1) The daily rate of food, which is currently equal to 109 hryvnias per serviceman. This helps the command of the unit to calculate how many products need to be bought, but no one can control what this amount of money will end up buying.
"Meat can cost 80 hryvnias, and porridge - 30. And it can be 100 hryvnias for porridge and 10 for meat. There can be the cheapest sausages with vegetables," one of the officers told the media on condition of anonymity.
2) Lack of control. The system is built in such a way that the real needs of a military unit are known only to employees of the supply department of this unit of the supplier company. Controlling authorities do not know the real needs - they do not have relevant lists. And outsiders, in particular journalists, are not allowed into the military unit.
"We have a paradoxical situation: the real needs of the military are known only to those who are in the know," explains Yurii Nikolov.
Sources of the publication say that the "kickback" on one kilogram of products can be up to 5 hryvnias. And consumption in the Armed Forces is measured in hundreds of tons per day. The lack of clearly defined requirements discourages retailers from participating in tenders. One of the representatives of a large supermarket chain told the newspaper that most of the questions arise because it is not entirely clear what, to whom and where is delivered.
"Until the system becomes transparent, the risk of corruption will remain. Large chains will not risk participating in tenders that are in the hands of dubious intermediary firms," the authors point out.
3) A single catalog of products for the army. Ukraine long ago switched to the NATO catalog with more than 400 names of food products for the military.
The list of products includes honey, sweets and even sturgeon. But only a company that supplies all these hundreds of items can supply food to the military, which contributes to the creation of corruption schemes with the participation of intermediaries.
A meat producer cannot supply the Armed Forces with vegetables, and a bread producer cannot supply sweets or water. Key capabilities end up in the hands of intermediary firms that do not produce anything, but simply act as a link between the manufacturer and the soldiers.
"Manufacturers give their products to suppliers of the Ministry of Defense for nothing, and intermediaries receive up to 187 percent of the profit," explains Tetyana Nikolayenko, a representative of the Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense.
Earlier, one of the largest suppliers of the Ministry of Defense, businessman Ihor Hrynkevich, was previously detained for handing over half a million dollars in bribes to a law enforcement officer. Now his company is trying to disrupt the procurement process for the Armed Forces through legal proceedings.
On February 1, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, suspended the acting director of the Department of Military-Technical Policy and Arms Development, Toomas Nakhkur. The official became a suspect in the theft of 1.5 billion hryvnias for the purchase of mortar shells.
