The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine has initiated an investigation following a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Center regarding alleged criminal actions by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov.
"Thus, the minister's actions may constitute a crime under part 2 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (abuse of power or official position)," - reports the Anti-Corruption Center on their Telegram channel.
According to the Anti-Corruption Center, on January 24, Umerov unlawfully refused to implement the decision of the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency to extend the contract with the director of the State Enterprise, Marina Bezrukova, for another year.
Umerov also dismissed two members of the Supervisory Board, Taras Chmut and Yuriy Dzhygyr, who supported this decision.
"We are confident that these actions will have consequences, and the NABU must thoroughly investigate the motives and implications of the minister's decisions," emphasized the Anti-Corruption Center.
As reported, the Ministry of Defense announced in early 2024 the establishment of supervisory boards consisting of three independent members and two state representatives in the Defense Procurement Agency and the "State Logistics Operator," which replaced the internal departments of the ministry that managed procurement.
In mid-June, the Ministry of Defense reported receiving a list of 12 candidates for independent members of the Supervisory Board of the State Enterprise from the recruiter LLC "Telent Advisors" (Odgers Berndtson) from six countries, and in mid-July, the recruiter LLC "World Executive Partners" (Heidrick & Struggles) presented 9 candidates from 7 countries for independent members of the Supervisory Board of the State Logistics Operator.
The Ministry of Defense did not approve such an extension; however, the Supervisory Board, now voting two against two, with the casting vote of the head of the board, former Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Dzhygyr, extended Bezrukova's contract on January 24. On the same day, Umerov announced that the contract with Bezrukova would not be extended, and that the head of the State Logistics Operator, Zhumadilov, would lead the State Enterprise while holding both positions.
The minister also stated that he initiated the dismissal of his deputy, Dmytro Klymenkov, who oversees procurement, as well as withdrawing two state representatives from the Supervisory Board – Dzhygyr and Taras Chmut, the director of the "Come Back Alive" foundation, who voted for the extension of Bezrukova's powers, and will restart the Supervisory Board.
The volume of procurement by the State Enterprise is about 300 billion UAH per year, while the State Logistics Operator is around 100 billion UAH.