Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, had announced a reboot of the anti-corruption department and the introduction of a public control mechanism after the corruption scandal surrounding the Ministry of Defence.

Source: Reznikov on Facebook, Anticorruption Action Centre

Quote: "Regarding the admonition and prevention of corruption. We are currently acting in the following directions.

The first is that we are rebooting the anti-corruption department of the Ministry of Defense; we are looking for personnel. The second is to form a public anti-corruption mechanism, which would be open to cooperation."

Details: The Anti-Corruption Action Centre reported that the Ministry of Defence invited them to a "working group to work out issues related to the creation of a public anti-corruption council."

The Centre stated that they do not plan to participate in this initiative: "We are sorry, but we do not have any trust for the ministry's leadership to go work in a working group with a nebulous mandate and purpose."

Background:

• Journalists published an investigation that exposed the Ministry of Defence for purchasing goods for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at inflated prices.

• Because of this, Viacheslav Shapovalov, Deputy Minister of Defence and  Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Director of the State Procurement Department were dismissed. The Prosecutor's Office informed them that they were under suspicion.

• On 5 February, David Arakhamiia, the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, claimed that the faction would vote for the dismissal of Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov.

• Later, Arakhamia stated that there will be no personnel changes in the Defence Ministry this week.

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