Ukraine’s former deputy defense minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov has been detained on bail of more than 400 million grivnas–more than ten million euros–for his involvement in alleged corruption cases involving overcharging for military supplies.
The corruption scandal is related to the alleged purchase of military rations at inflated prices by the Defense Ministry for, primarily, soldiers in the rear, the responsibility of a Shapovalov who announced his resignation when the case was reported.
Shapovalov announced that his resignation was in response to the corruption allegations and to prevent the scandal from negatively affecting international supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrinform news agency reported.
However, Ukrainian authorities have pointed out that Shapovalov was actually dismissed, along with about ten other officials, as part of their fight against corruption. The Ukrainian Security Service has launched an investigation to determine whether there have been irregularities in the purchase of supplies.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski has gone so far as to describe as «necessary» the dismissal of more than a dozen senior officials in the wake of these scandals. «All internal issues hindering the state are being eliminated and will continue to be eliminated. It is fair, it is necessary for our defense, and it helps our rapprochement with the European institutions,» he has affirmed.
Ukraine has in the past been the scene of numerous corruption cases and Transparency International ranked it 122nd out of 180 in 2021 in its corruption perception survey. The fight against these crimes is also one of the key demands of the European Union in the framework of the process for its possible accession to the bloc, something firmly rejected by Russia.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
