The extremely high level of corruption in government is the main obstacle to Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. As a future president, I will eliminate corruption in government, primarily in the defense and security sectors. I know how to do it, I have zero tolerance for corruption, and I do not depend on the oligarchs. I will create a fair system of government that will serve and be controlled by the people. We will start cleaning up the country from the very top: with the President, the government, deputies, and judges. No corrupt person, regardless of position, will escape punishment and will never work in the civil service again. For me, corruption in the defense sector is not only purchases at inflated prices and kickbacks. Corruption starts at the very top, when the highest officials responsible for defense orders initiate purchases of weapons and military equipment not from specialized state-owned enterprises, but from companies under their control. Thereby depriving manufacturing enterprises of state orders and workers of salaries. In return, the army receives low-quality goods at inflated prices. And the regulatory bodies that should eliminate such schemes are inactive, they are accomplices in corruption deals. I will initiate increased responsibility for criminal offenses in the field of defense and national security. I have the political will to separate power from business once and for all: from the President to the heads of village councils – there will be no more conflicts of interest.
Of course, in the state of war that Ukraine is currently in, a certain level of secrecy must remain, but secrecy cannot be used by officials to cover up abuses. An example of how it is possible to work openly and transparently even in special services is the results of my work in the SBU. In the most difficult times for the country, at the beginning of the Russian aggression, we created an open and transparent system of procurement of weapons, transport and everything necessary for the functioning of the special services. We eliminated all corruption schemes, and contracts could always be checked. One of the components of the national security system is the strengthening of democratic public control over activities in the field of state security and defense. I created a public council in the SBU with the powers of control and access to information, including procurement. In order for control over the activities of bodies in the field of national security and defense to be real, and not on paper, amendments to the Law on National Security of Ukraine are needed. Since today democratic, public control is unreasonably limited, and therefore ineffective.
I consider today’s procurement system ineffective and not transparent enough. I know this from my own experience. The Justice Movement and I have transferred 7 life modules to the front line for our defenders. They are built according to NATO standards, will save more than one hero, and will provide protection and rest to our fighters. If the Ukrainian authorities cared about their people and the army, such modules would be manufactured at Ukrainian enterprises and located throughout the front line, while the rest would be waiting for civilians who are forced to leave their homes under hail and bullets. All the modules that the Justice Movement transferred to the front line were manufactured at one of the Dnipro factories. However, the company has never received a single government order in five years of war. Another example. In the city of Kostyantynivka there is a special factory for the production of armored glass, which is manufactured according to Ukrainian and European standards. How many government orders do you think they received during all the years of the war? Units! And how many cases of injuries to our military personnel are we aware of due to poor-quality, substandard, manufactured in unknown places armored glass! How many lives could be saved? Why not make competitions for such enterprises transparent and support manufacturers with state orders?!
Today, Ukroboronprom is an artificially created structure that launders money and resources. A structure on top of a structure that only harms manufacturing enterprises, not helps them. This concern was created during the time of Yanukovych, for its sake the Ministry of Industry was liquidated as a state body managing defense enterprises, and I also see a corruption component in this. This is nothing more than surrendering the national interests of Ukraine. Ukraine should have a central state administration body in the field of defense industry, which should implement national policy in this area.
I am categorically against trade in war. And we are not talking about a bottle of milk for children, but about coal by train, gasoline tankers that cross the demarcation line every day. I argue: illegal trade can be eliminated literally within a few days after the presidential elections. This requires a clear position from the new president of the country.
Yes, it really was. I am aware of the initiation of two criminal proceedings by the Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Central Region against the former Minister of Defense for the facts of embezzlement of specific land plots of military towns. I know that public activists have been demanding an objective legal assessment of the actions of the former Minister for a year, because the authorities covered up these transactions. I believe that there should be no statute of limitations for such crimes. This and other corrupt officials should be punished and the stolen property should be returned to the state.
As the future president, I guarantee: the state will take care of each of its defenders! No military family will be left without support and care. We will create an effective social system for the construction and distribution of official housing, affordable mortgage programs. First of all, it is necessary to conduct an independent audit of lands, plots, houses and social facilities. And not only what is left, but also what has already been stolen and sold off. And if the generals have 4 apartments, and a soldier or volunteer who returned from the front has nothing, then this is unfair. And we will prove through the court the fallacy of such an approach to the distribution of housing. I am categorically against housing “by rank”: when a general has the right to an apartment, and a lieutenant does not. Everyone should be equal before the Law. By the way, after the Revolution of Dignity with a team of honest officers in the SBU, I did exactly that — I returned the apartments illegally obtained by the generals during the Yanukovych era – Yakimenko to the service. This housing was then distributed among the combatants.
