There is lack of accountability in Defense Ministry. That’s what I criticized Umerov for – Butusov. VIDEO
Lack of accountability is the main problem that leads to corruption scandals.
This was stated by the Editor-in-Chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, in an interview with Hromadske Radio.
"I didn’t criticize Umerov for replacing one person who knew nothing about ammunition with another person who also knows nothing about ammunition. My issue is solely about accountability. When I met with Umerov in December, I asked him: 'Why are there no planning documents?'"
"What is a planning document? If you want to purchase ammunition, someone has to put it in writing: ‘We need these types of ammunition, because...’ That should be done by the Ministry of Defense, because our Logistics Forces Command only writes out the needs," the journalist explained.
If there is no possibility to procure everything that's required, the Defense Ministry must decide which portion to prioritize, from whom to purchase, where, and when, Butusov added.
"There is no regulation in place to govern accountability and planning in Ukraine. If you have the right connections in power, you can do whatever you want. You can sign 350 billion hryvnias’ worth of weapons contracts and spend the whole year dealing with corruption scandals. Some items aren't delivered, some of the money gets stolen, and some of the purchases are junk — things that don’t shoot or explode. Then they allocate 20 billion for defensive fortifications that no one ends up occupying. This is the kind of irresponsibility I criticize the government for. There's simply no accountability for decisions at the top. And that's the root cause behind all the journalistic investigations," Butusov concluded.
