© TASS
Ukraine is being shaken by another corruption scandal, with several major resignations at once: Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, deputy head of the President's office Kirill Tymoshenko and Deputy Prosecutor General Alexei Symonenko.
Shapovalov "suffered" for his subordinate rear services’ attempts to make a pretty penny out of military rations, raising their price too high. Engaged in deliveries was some recently created Aktiv Company with an authorized capital of 1000 hryvnias. Thus, the department bought its eggs at 17 UAH apiece, with their average cost accounting for about 7 UAH. The estimated aggregate damage is UAH 13.2 billion.
At first, journalists with Telegram’s "First Analytical. KTime" who made this public were accused of betrayal. Later, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov blamed everything on a "technical error": they wrote kilograms instead of pieces as regards eggs, and given the wide price range for potatoes, they took the best. In short, all of this has been mere bitter misunderstanding. The Verkhovna Rada relevant committee got satisfied with these explanations, but the border guards turned out to have bought eggs at 4-5 UAH.
The "enraged" Americans intervened, demanding an inquiry. It became clear no one would believe that story, and the Minister of Defense was compelled to zigzag on the issue. He justified himself with a lot of verbiage on social media, traditionally accusing journalists of seeking to block weapons supply to Ukraine. He referred to audit results and announced the dismissal of Defense Ministry Procurement Department director Bogdan Khmelnitsky, though failing to mention this was actually done by the Anti-Corruption Committee. And aforementioned Reznikov’s deputy Vyacheslav Shapovalov in charge of logistics resigned voluntarily. A pre-trial investigation has now been launched into their possible malpractice.
Following the scandal, Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov has also found himself in a shaky position. But, according to informed Ukrainian sources, he was saved by almighty head of the president's Office Andrei Yermak, the right-hand guy to Vladimir Zelensky. (Still, Ukrainian political analysts tend to believe he is also the president’s brains; sort of a non-public power broker).
As for Kirill Tymoshenko aka Zelensky's "coin purse," he was sacrificed for the sake of purging the team’s ranks of "corruption suspicions." He also quit on his own, making sure to have gone into details about his marvelous service to the country. But people think he did this to avoid criminal prosecution. After all, it was him who oversaw the "Big Construction" program people aptly renamed "Big Theft" ˗ a road construction and repair program with at least UAH 50 billion stolen. He is deemed engaged in embezzling humanitarian aid worth tens of millions of dollars. (The Ukrainian media have been long reporting numerous facts of its appropriation and subsequent resale through commercial stores by companies established in conjunction with those from among Tymoshenko’s inner circle).
Moreover, prosecutors of Ukraine’s five regions have been also dismissed, Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin’s office said: Zaporozhe (Kiev-controlled areas), Kirovograd, Poltava, Sumy and Chernigov. All the executives did this voluntarily.
The situation’s flavor is that Zelensky has not imprisoned any single corrupt official from his entourage, but simply dismissed the most odious ones. They were probably faced with a choice: resignation or criminal cases, security police and prison sentences. Moreover, "evidence" against each of them is enough and to spare for several criminal cases. But their arrest is also fraught with problems – having sat high, they know too much, and it's better to let them "quietly" leave.
Vows of personal loyalty were no longer needed from them, either. New manageable figures are believed to have "prepared" for their posts in advance.
In the end, things have been put right, with strengthened control over financial flows concentrated in the hands of a single person ˗ Yermak (previously those were managed by two competing teams, Yermak and Tymoshenko, under Zelensky’s unifying command). Illegal arms trade alone remained beyond the presidential structures’ control, which is believed to be the patrimony of Commander-in-Chief of Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny.
Many Ukrainian political analysts regard this as a reason behind resignations and career perturbations carried out by Zelensky.
But perhaps this is not the end of the story, because the situation in Ukraine is getting out of its president’s control. Pundits say Zelensky was apparently faced with merciless terms to keep obtaining military and financial support. In their opinion, an ultimatum was delivered to him to strengthen cash flow control and start combating corruption in the top tiers of power.
One of the reasons of US attention to the latest corruption scandal is brought about by the fact that Western taxpayers' money is being stolen, displeasing the US leadership amid domestic criticism of its Ukraine policy.
So, Zelensky had to account to Washington for fighting corruption uncompromisingly and indefatigably. As a result, corrupt officials were dismissed or resigned, but all the key beneficiaries managed to keep their seats.
However, the US leadership decided to go an extra mile and run a check of Kiev’s financial and military assistance. For this purpose, a special group has been created to investigate the transfer and use of money, equipment and materials provided by the United States. So, the story may well acquire continuation, as the Ukrainian СТРАНА.ua outlet reported a possible resignation by Prime Minister Denis Shmygal over corruption scandals in the country.
