Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it had opened criminal proceedings after finding that more than $1 million in government funds had been misappropriated by military units.
The investigation comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy steps up his fight against corruption as part of reforms demanded by Western countries.
An audit of military units based in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region revealed multiple violations, resulting in losses of 38.8 million hryvnia ($1.1 million).
“The biggest violation was the unjustified inflation of the cost of generators purchased in 2022, which caused a loss of 37.1 million hrivres,” the ministry said.
“Furthermore, during the period from October 2022 to April 2023, when the military urgently needed generators, most of them were not delivered to units and accumulated in warehouses.”
He said the case has been referred to law enforcement.
Ukrainian authorities have sought in recent months to root out corruption at the Ministry of Defense, in part to reassure Western allies sending wartime aid.
In August, Zelenskiy fired all regional officials responsible for military recruitment, and in September he sacked the defense minister amid a series of corruption scandals.
Earlier this month, prosecutors announced that two senior defense officials were suspects in a large-scale fraud case involving the purchase of military uniforms from a Turkish company.
Ukraine continues to fight a tough battle against systemic corruption that has been rampant since before the war.
Tackling grafting is one of the key reforms the European Union requires as a precondition for membership.
Source: guardian.ng