The wife of the head of the Defense Procurement Agency has a Russian passport and visits occupied Crimea, and the agencies he sponsors probably “profited” by 1.5 billion UAH on food for the military.
The head of the Defense Procurement Agency, Arsen Zhumadilov, has once again found himself at the center of a scandal. At first it turned out that his wife Sabina has a Russian passport and is visiting occupied Crimea. And then journalists and economic experts published information on social networks that the agencies sponsored by Zhumadilov probably “profited” by 1.5 billion UAH on food for the military. What is known about the person who manages defense tenders?
Last year, the Ministry of Defense initiated the creation of two new state enterprises: the Defense Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator. The leadership of these newly created enterprises was given to Arsen Zhumadilov, a member of the team of Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
After the preliminary scandalous tenders of the Ministry of Defense, the newly created state-owned enterprises were supposed to make procurement transparent for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, Zhumadilov’s lofty slogans about “an organization that will be created from scratch and functionally configured to conduct all procurement in the most transparent, non-corruption way” already at the beginning of 2024 became the cause of many scandals in government circles. So, about everything and that's it.
Food and body armor for the military have risen in price again
Zhumadilov's work in the Ministry of Defense began with statements about reforms and transparency, but in reality these expectations were not met. New tenders for ProZorro indicate that the cost of food for the Armed Forces has increased from 120 to 139.38 hryvnia per set of products, and the terms of the tenders were likely specially tailored to a specific participant. Therefore, the difference in price due to the large number of purchases is UAH 1.5 billion.
In addition, political expert Alexei Golobutsky claims that two state-owned enterprises received a commission amounting to 0.4% of the total purchase amount of the Ministry of Defense. That’s the whole trick, where the 1.5 billion hryvnia came from.
“For the Zhumadilov Agency this is a fat catch. The fact is that the two mentioned GPs are financed by a commission in the amount of 0.4% of the contract amount. Consequently, they are not interested in the quality or reduction in price of the lots, but exclusively in their rise in price... Therefore, it will be possible to run into a business trip worth 29 million,” the expert explained.
But journalist Sergei Lyamets, citing a report from the head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Defense, writes that the military may be left without food at all. He claims that as a result of the launch of a new food procurement system for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, initiated by Minister Umerov and the head of the State Logistics Operator Zhumadilov, 11 billion hryvnia will be appropriated per year.
In the comments, Sergei Lyamets adds the same note from the Procurement Policy Department on six sheets.
What is the business opinion on this matter?
“The latest changes in the Features of Defense Procurement have shown a very strange situation,” Oleg Mitrokhin, a businessman and owner of a large Ukrainian company producing work clothes and uniforms for representatives of various fields of activity, said in his post on Facebook.
In particular, Mr. Oleg noted that: “Everyone remembers how Mr. Arsen Zhumadilov spoke on one broadcast about the desire to close information about suppliers, because society only wants to know about eggs for 17 hryvnia, and there is no such request to know from whom. (I bet Mr. Grinkevich would have a very good argument about this, because without publicity they would still be wasting public money.
They also spoke about the need to ensure the safety of suppliers from ephemeral danger from the aggressor. Yeah, they didn’t talk about this for two years, for two years all the information was forkrit, and now DOT has decided to catch up and make the manufacturers happy. After all, Russia hasn’t collected all the information in two years, right?
The only problem is that the manufacturers did not ask for protection in this form, and as a result, DOT received protection and secrecy of information about their activities from the public. How does this happen?
A very interesting question is brewing: why should Mr. Zhamudilov close the activities of the bunker from the public? What does he want to do so that you and I don’t know? ”
In addition, Oleg Mitrokhin determined that only a select few have the right to use the introduced framework agreements, that is, the new tool is provided purely for the DOT: “The new framework agreements enable the DOT to close procurement information to everyone - participants, society, even courts (EVEN FOR SHIPS , KARL).DOTA was given the right to carry out purchases uncontrollably (after all, judging by the complete silence, the State Administration of Ukraine does not look into the procurement of DOTU in the order of monitoring).
No one should see or understand anything about bunker procurement.
They announce openness to us, talk about “stunning” honesty and justice, but in reality:
⁃ information about participants and their proposals and documents is not made public in the electronic procurement system for public access.
⁃ information about the intention to conclude a contract is not made public in the electronic procurement system for public access.” – Oleg summarized.
What was discovered?
Under the new system, suppliers are exempt from liability for late deliveries, and the fine for non-delivery is reduced by five times. In addition, a 50% prepayment mechanism is being introduced. This means that the state will actually lend to billionaires, paying them almost one and a half times more than now.
Consequently, if now the average price of the range of products issued per serviceman is 107 hryvnia, then it will increase to 137 hryvnia. However, the actual price may be even higher, since after the reform the price does not include delivery costs. In addition, if the supplier decides to break the contract, it will not pay a penalty, since guarantees and financial security have been canceled for participants.
At the same time, the State Logistics Operator of Zhumadilov will receive a percentage for the tender.
Some of these comments, submitted by procurement participants LLC TRADE POLTAVA and LLC TRADING COMPANY “AGROPRODPROM-SERVICE” to the tender documentation, were also published on the ProZorro website.
However, the agency only responded in general terms and rejected these comments.
Again, according to ProZorro, we are tracking another ambiguous situation.
For example, in October, the Department of Public Procurement of the Ministry of Defense purchased body armor for 24,930 hryvnia per unit.
And already in February, the Defense Procurement Agency, which has an impeccable reputation, plans to purchase these same body armor, but at a significantly higher price - a price of almost 34 thousand hryvnia per unit.
You can’t forbid living well even during a full-scale war
Meanwhile, during the war, Arsen Zhumadilov himself seems to be easily spending public funds for a comfortable stay at work. The recently announced tender in the ProZorro system for two televisions for agency offices in the amount of almost 86 thousand UAH “screams” about this.
It is not clear what Arsen Zhumadilov’s subordinates should watch there, but for this they need a TV for almost 43 thousand UAH.
In addition to televisions, the Agency purchased speakerphones for almost 90 thousand hryvnia.
That is, according to the terms of the tender documentation, we see that these funds went only to 7 speakerphones and 2 speaker systems (microphones and loudspeakers)
However, this is not all the luxury of the new officials. This year, Ukrainians’ taxes will be used to allocate 29 million hryvnia for business trips for employees of the newly created Defense Procurement Agency. This will include payment for tickets, hotels, car rentals and similar services.
What class of cars and hotels should there be for such a sum for people who announced such good reforms, when the military protecting them sleeps right in the snow.
And all these expenses come with considerable salaries for workers. Colleagues from “Apostrophe” had at their disposal a document transferred from the General Staff. It states that the Agency’s general director has a salary of 193,800 hryvnia, the director of procurement management – 161 thousand hryvnia, the director of supply management – 161 thousand, the director of information technology development – 135 thousand hryvnia, the director of financial management – 135 thousand hryvnia.
According to this document, the State Budget of Ukraine provides an amount of 8,087,800 hryvnia monthly for the maintenance of the agency’s staff, consisting of 145 employees, while the Ministry of Defense had 70 employees.
So, “Taking into account the fact that last year the budget of the Ministry of Defense for purchases for the needs of the rear amounted to 100 billion hryvnia, we are talking about 400 million. Now Zhumadilov’s department employs 70 people, so in reality ten times less would be enough for him,” emphasized economic expert, candidate of sciences in public administration Yuri Gavrilechko.
It is also worth noting that this is not the entire staff, because the newly created agency is actively looking for candidates for various vacancies. For example, they include a business analyst, a category manager, a category management specialist in the food industry, and a project management specialist in procurement. Such information can be easily found on the “Work” website.
Russian passports and companies of the Zhumadilov family
Zhumadilov also noted that his wife probably has a Russian passport. As he explained on his Facebook page, his wife was visiting relatives in occupied Crimea.
He also emphasized that this passport is “real” only for external perception, and the law recognizes documents issued in the occupied territories as invalid.
However, this position of the official is questionable, since the rule on the invalidity of Russian documents applies to Ukrainians remaining in the occupied territories, and not to those who visit these zones. Additionally, the question arises as to why, if the official considers the acquired citizenship to be insignificant, he announced the refusal of the Russian passport after this scandal.
Many questions arise regarding the date of receipt of the passport. This is the spring of 2021, that is, seven years after the occupation of Crimea and less than a year before the full-scale invasion. That is, the wife either did not go to the family for seven years, and yet she was still freely in the occupied territory without such a document, but for some reason she received a Russian passport just before the start of the war.
So, at a time when everyone who visited Crimea is traitors, they do not need to be allowed to Eurovision, you can hate wherever possible. When a large number of Ukrainians, for the sake of state security, broke ties with families under occupation, the wife of a man who was the head of the administration, and now cooperates with the Ministry of Defense, freely travels to relatives in Crimea and also acquired a document so that she would not be hindered.
However, this situation becomes more understandable if you pay attention to what honest Zhumadilov did before receiving his high position.
Arsen Zhumadilov, together with his wife Sabrina and brother Murat, administer the “Chongar-Chaplinka-Kalanchak” group on Facebook. Since 2015, they have been publishing information about the operation of checkpoints to Crimea and advertising passenger transportation services from and to Crimea, as well as related logistics services.
It is impossible to say that this is a fake, because there is a message about this on the page of Arsen Zhumadilov himself.
Murat’s brother’s Facebook page also contains advertisements for the services of the Atlant Service road carrier. The owner of this Facebook page is also the administrator of the “Chongar-Chaplinka-Kalanchak” group.
What kind of company is this?
According to information on their website, the legal activities of the Atlant Service company are carried out by private entrepreneur Shamil Alimovich Alyadinov from Simferopol (IP 910202670400; OGRN 321911200035144). The company is registered in Russia, operates with licenses in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation and pays taxes to the Russian budget.
This company also provides consultations via telegrams. And here, in an information article that gives advice to citizens of Ukraine on traveling through the territory of Belarus, the Atlant Service company indicates the telephone numbers of the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, which can be used to receive support and advice.
So, on the Atlant Service advertisement there is a contact telephone number similar to the one used to register Crimean Style LLC - today the owner is Murat Zhumadilov, and until 2014 the co-owner and director of which was Arsen Zhumadilov himself.
Atlant Service has also established a translation business that it actively advertises on Facebook.
And such activities fall under Article 258-5 of the Criminal Code - financing of terrorism and are prohibited in Ukraine.
In his declaration for 2015, Arsen Zhumadilov, who at that time was the head of the Belyaevsky district state administration in the Odessa region, noted the contact telephone number belonging to the Vasco da Gama LLC company registered in Crimea. This number is also indicated as a contact number for Murat Zhumadilov’s brother on Russian websites offering logistics services.
What’s even more interesting is that in his declaration for 2022, Arsen Zhumadilov again shows Vasco da Gama LLC, this at a time when there is a full-scale war and he is cooperating with the Ministry of Defense.
Consequently, law enforcement officers must work a lot to clarify all the circumstances and connections of Zhumadilov. After all, the official himself noted that: “Any connections between public figures and the aggressor country are subject to careful verification and constant monitoring by law enforcement agencies and civil society to prevent a threat to national security and the territorial integrity of the state.” So, it's very good that he understands all this.
As soon as the scandals gained momentum, volunteer and member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense Dana Yarova was removed from all processes in the Ministry of Defense. She reported this in the comments under the post of volunteer Nazar Prikhodko.
That's all the transparency of reforms. So, how events will unfold further will be seen. However, they will be closely monitored by StopCor analysts.
Analysts, in turn, turned on social networks to a member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council under the Ministry of Defense Dana Yarovaya and Mr. Zhumadilov for comments, as well as with a request to the state enterprises “Defense Procurement Agency” and “State Logistics Operator”. clarification of the circumstances of the case.
