““The announcement of the alleged new head of the Agency is a direct manifestation of pressure on the Supervisory Board”, according to the AOZ”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The agency indicated that the contract with Bezrukova was extended by the Supervisory Board on January 23:
“And therefore JSC continues to work under the leadership of Maryna Bezrukova, because only the Supervisory Board has the authority to extend or terminate the director’s current contract. And this corresponds to both the Law of Ukraine and the latest version of the Agency’s Statute.”
The press service of the agency claims that the Supervisory Board remains in force, despite the statement of Defense Minister Rustem Umerov about recalling two of its members from the state.
“In these circumstances, the preliminary announcement of the alleged new head of the Agency is a direct manifestation of pressure on the Supervisory Board and an attempt to replace independent corporate governance with a ‘manual mode,'” the report says.
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AOZ accused the Ministry of Defense of violating previous agreements with civil society and international partners that finance the production of Ukrainian weapons within the framework of the “Danish model”.
The agency also reports on progress in direct contracting, lower prices for critical munitions, and increased supply.
“It is also difficult for us to explain the position when, on the one hand, the Ministry presents as a victory the advancement of the production of long-range drones for 2025 and the conclusion of transitional and long-term contracts by the Agency, and on the other hand, it makes accusations that the AOZ used the 2024 budget not only for contracts with supply this year,” it says.
The agency stressed that attempts to interfere in the activities of independent supervisory bodies “may have negative consequences both for international support for Ukraine and for the stable supply of weapons and military equipment to the front.”
The Ministry of Defense has not yet commented on this statement.
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The day before, Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov said that the Ministry of Defense will not renew the contract with the director of the Defense Procurement Agency, Maryna Bezrukova, and also promised “all those who failed in their work” regarding defense procurement. The Ministry of Defense also recalled two state representatives from the Supervisory Board.
According to Umerov, the Supervisory Board will be restarted in the near future, and Arsena Zhumadilov, who heads the “State Operator of the Rear”, will be appointed as the director of AOZ. Zhumadiov himself confirmed that he agreed to become the new director of the Defense Procurement Agency.
On January 22, the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine concluded an additional agreement to the contract with the current director of the agency, Maryna Bezrukova, for a period of 1 year.
The day before, on January 21, the Supervisory Board of AOZ reported that its members unanimously decided to extend the contract with Maryna Bezrukova. After that, the journalist and member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the MoU, Tetyana Nikolayenko, reported that the Ministry of Defense did not agree with this decision of the Supervisory Board, despite the fact that, according to her, the MoU should not have agreed with it, noted the journalists of the RFE/RL investigation project “Schemy”. .