Ukrainian President's Office responds to MoD's jacket purchase scandal
Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak (photo: president.gov.ua)
The Office of the President of Ukraine has responded to the Ministry of Defense's jacket procurement scandal, according to the remarks of the Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, during a televised marathon.
"Undoubtedly, the parliamentary committee has the right to raise any questions because Parliament is about oversight. Please come prepared and answer all the questions. And then, don't bring out strange proposals, make quarrels in public, and so on. This discredits Ukraine," said Podolyak.
He emphasized that today, Ukrainian politicians should demonstrate, through their example, that the state has changed.
"Today we must show that the state has changed at least a bit. It means that if there are doubts about you, you should answer the questions in a way that leaves no room for doubt. Because society pays a high price and has the right to doubt us. But if we want to be the kind of people that society supports, then we should not argue or respond aggressively to questions but answer them and acknowledge our mistakes," explained the Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Podolyak said that in such a situation, it is necessary to wait until the investigative actions are completed.
"And when the case is brought to a conclusion, we will be able to comment factually on what happened, who is guilty, and why they are guilty," he concluded.
The scandal regarding the purchase of jackets by the Ministry of Defense
Recently, there was an investigation in the media suggesting that the Ministry of Defense had allegedly purchased winter jackets for the military from the Türkish company Vector avia hava araçlari, but at an inflated price. According to the investigation, the price of the jackets tripled during delivery. Furthermore, it was discovered that the jackets imported from Türkiye to Ukraine were not winter jackets as claimed but rather summer ones.
Journalist Mykhailo Tkach reported on this and added that the procurement was allegedly linked to the nephew of MP Hennadiy Kasai, who is a member of the Verkhovna Rada's Defense Committee.
This week, the Verkhovna Rada's Anti-Corruption Policy Committee held a meeting on this matter, with representatives from the Ministry of Defense present. Following the meeting, the committee's head, Radina, mentioned that the ministry's representatives could not answer most of the questions from the MPs and tried to present a "jacket of unknown origin" on which a different contract number was indicated compared to the invoice for the shipment being investigated by the committee.
The proposal from Reznikov
As Reznikov stated in the article, he offered a proposition to journalist Mykhailo Tkach and Member of Parliament Anastasiia Radina, who heads the Parliamentary Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy.
"If it turns out that the Ministry of Defense indeed supplied 180,000 summer jackets instead of winter ones, then I will submit my resignation. However, if it is found that 180,000 winter jackets were supplied, not summer ones, then Member of Parliament Anastasiia Radina will resign, and journalist Mykhailo Tkach will leave his profession for 3 years," the minister declared.
