Before you accuse me of being addicted to news about corruption, let me be clear: I can live without corruption news, I just cannot let this issue be ignored.
It has only been a couple of weeks since I published my post ’Corruption in Ukraine’s Parliament And Military Circles Returns’ and yet another corruption scandal has come to light in Ukraine. This time, it is about the purchase of summer jackets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Briefly about the scandal:
• In 2022, Vector Avia, a Turkish company had sold summer jackets to the Ukrainian army under the guise of winter ones.
• Documents were found that show how 4,900 jackets worth US$142,000 were transformed into 4,900 jackets worth US$421,000. On their way from Turkish to Ukrainian customs, the jackets transformed from camouflage jackets into windproof winter jackets, the price of which was much higher.
• Ukrainian journalists found out that the co-owner of Vector Avia, the Turkish company that supplied Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence with the overpriced summer military uniform instead of a winter one, was businessman Oleksandr Kasai.
• Mr Oleksandr Kasai is the nephew of Gennadiy Kasai, a Ukrainian MP and member of the Servant of the People party who sits in the Committee for National Security, Defence and Intelligence of Ukraine’s Parliament (Verkhovna Rada).
• The head of Ukraine’s MoD Reznikov made no comment on the connection between Vector Avia and the mentioned Ukrainian MP.
• President Zelenskyy said he intends to submit a bill equating wartime corruption to treason.
How tired I am of these scandals! I am also sick of the Ukrainian government. History repeats itself. Whatever reforms and anti-corruption measures Kyiv promised its Western partners, these scandals suggest that my country is nothing but a hopelessly corrupt state where politicians are ready to gain wealth even by undermining the interests of their own soldiers defending Ukraine from the aggressor.
When will Western partners who support Ukraine financially, with weapons and morally, be ready to admit that the funds transferred to Ukraine are being misused by the Ukrainian political and military elite? How many more corruption crimes must take place before Western leaders dare to mildly criticise Ukraine for the improper or illegal use of funds? And finally, how many more corruption scandals in the Armed Forces does President Zelensky need to dismiss Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov??
Sources:
• https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/23/7416736/
• https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/26/7417235/
• https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/08/27/7417309/
Leave a Reply