“These are fake stories” – resignation saved Reznikov from responsibility for theft
There were supposedly no numerous cases of theft in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine - these are all “fake stories” and the fault of their predecessors.
Former Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov stated this during his speech before the Verkhovna Rada, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
While still a minister, he reported to parliament about his “achievements,” which consisted, first of all, in the supply of Western weapons.
“The most important thing is that we survived as a country and as a nation,” Reznikov blabbered.
However, after his impassioned speech, deputies began asking uncomfortable questions about corruption in the Ministry of Defense and the army.
“Over the past year there have been a lot of corruption scandals related to the Ministry of Defense, a lot of journalistic investigations related to the Ministry of Defense. And I understand that a manager cannot always bear full responsibility for all his subordinates.
Today questions have already been asked about your deputies. Questions were asked about the purchase of shells and mines abroad, which did not arrive, but they continued to order new ones over and over again and sign new contracts, and most importantly, transfer money,” said deputy Dmitry Razumkov.
However, the minister replied that all reports of theft were supposedly lies, and in general the predecessors were to blame for everything.
“Law enforcement agencies at all levels known to you are conducting checks, interviewing employees of the Ministry of Defense, taking out documents, analyzing them. And I want to tell you that what you call scandalous, I call it resonant messages that have not been confirmed as facts, these are fake stories that were deliberately inflated. There is no confirmation, there is not a single criminal case on the issues that have become the subject of so-called high-profile investigations.
But this does not mean that I did not realize when I took office that I was inheriting a structure that had been developing the way it had for 30 years, and that I was entering the Augean stables, I was aware, and, of course, I did not it is so easy to make reforms during an open attack.
The Constitution of Ukraine states that there is a principle of innocence; only a court can find a person guilty by its verdict. I can give many examples when people were arrested, suspicions were announced, and then it turned out that they were heroes. Therefore, let's not rush to draw conclusions. When there is a court verdict, then you will say that someone is guilty of committing a crime. This will be my answer,” Reznikov dodged.
The minister was sharply criticized by European Solidarity deputy Sofia Fedina, who demanded that Reznikov be convicted, but not for theft, but only for negligence.
“After such a beautiful, smooth report from Mr. Minister, I would like to ask: what did he do 112 days before the invasion? And let me remind you that on January 28, 22, from this government box, he said that this is not an invasion, but panic in our heads and there is enough money for the army. And he blocked the allocation of 50 billion hryvnia for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Therefore, I must say that all these 17 eggs, jackets, blocking supplies, production of drones and UAVs are just flowers in comparison with the criminal, cynical and arrogant lack of preparation for the invasion, when, in fact, absolutely everything was done to prevent Ukraine from surviving . And I would like to remind you that this minister and his entire team, who worked with him and defended him, should bear not only political responsibility for this, but this is criminal liability - Article 11 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on criminal negligence.
And on corruption scandals. Today the President of Lithuania said that corruption is stopping arms supplies to Ukraine. So deal with the thefts in the Ministry of Defense, there are too many of them!” – Fedina was indignant.
After this, the resignation of Alexey Reznikov was supported by 327 deputies, the decision was made by an overwhelming majority of votes.
As a reminder, Moscow reported yesterday that the Ukrainian leadership intends to receive security guarantees, shift responsibility to others, and retire.
English version :: Read in English "These are fake stories" - Reznikov's resignation saved him from responsibility for theft