Turkish company's co-owner, supplier of overpriced jackets to Defense Ministry, revealed as nephew of MP

Ukrainska Pravda revealed the information in its journalistic investigation.

The co-owner in question is 26-year-old Oleksandr Kasai, the nephew of MP Hennadiy Kasai, who is a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence. 

The suspicious scheme involving the purchase of lightweight jackets at the price of winter jackets came to light through a recent journalistic investigation published on August 10 by ZN.UA. The investigation revealed that the cost of a shipment containing 4,900 jackets for the military, traveling from Turkey to Ukraine, experienced an increase of approximately USD 300,000. Initially priced at uSD 142,000, the shipment ended up costing uSD 421,000. During transit to Ukraine, these camouflage jackets were falsely documented as winter jackets.

"The supplier of the scandalous jackets for the Ukrainian Armed Forces was the Turkish company Vector avia," said journalist Mykhailo Tkach. 

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense disbursed tens of millions of dollars to this particular company. On August 23, the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Verkhovna Rada convened a meeting to discuss the controversial procurement issue.

Deputy Defense Minister Sharapov stated that there were no complaints from the customer regarding the delivered jackets. During the meeting, he presented a jacket as an example. However, the jacket he presented was not from the shipment where the change from summer to winter jackets occurred during transportation from Turkey to Ukraine.

In October 2022, law enforcement authorities started investigating the supply of subpar uniforms from Turkey. Customs officials had raised concerns when they observed that the uniforms destined for the Ukrainian army were being routed through Moldova with a certain price stated, yet they entered Ukraine from Moldova at significantly higher prices. This raised suspicions of potential collusion between officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and Vector avia, the company responsible for the uniforms. Roman Pletnov, the founder and director of Vector avia, is already under suspicion of criminal activity.

Pletnov is indeed the sole owner of Vector avia, but until February 2023, the company also had a second owner, a relative of MP Kasai, 26-year-old Oleksandr Kasai.

Background

In 2019, Hennadii Kasai secured a seat in the 9th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada under the Servant of the People party banner as a non-partisan. He is a member of the Servant of the People faction, a member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.

Director General of the Yunist Palace of Sports. General Director of the sports complex of Motor Sich JSC, an enterprise presided over by Viacheslav Bohuslayev, who also holds the position of general designer. His net worth was last estimated at USD 327 million. 

At the end of 2022, he voted for the urban planning reform (#5655), which was aligned with developer interests and diminished the influence of citizens over Ukraine's reconstruction. The draft law was implemented without a public discussion, leading civil society organizations (CSOs), the media, and the Association of Ukrainian Cities to urge MPs to reconsider and refine the draft law. A few hours after the scandalous vote, a petition calling for the president's veto collected over 25,000 signatures. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) also reported that certain anti-corruption considerations had not been adequately integrated into the final version.

Ministry of Defense faces allegations of inflated food purchases for Ukrainian Armed Forces

Back in winter, the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia news agency published information that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was purchasing food for the military at prices significantly higher than those in Kyiv retail chains, citing the defense ministry's food procurement agreement.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine called the accusations of purchasing food for the army at inflated prices as having signs of deliberate manipulation. 

At a meeting on January 24, the Cabinet of Ministers made a decision to dismiss Deputy Defense Minister Vyacheslav Shapovalov, who had previously submitted his resignation.

Vyacheslav Shapovalov was detained with the option of posting bail, which has been set at an amount exceeding UAH 400 million.

The Prosecutor General's Office announced that an advisor to the Deputy Defense Minister was served with a notice of suspicion, implicating him in a scheme to embezzle over UAH 1.7 billion in procurement for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Later, the Minister of Defense stated that an anti-corruption council, which will include representatives of the public, will help to counteract bribery within the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Following this, on February 8, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov declared the reformation of the anti-corruption department and the implementation of a mechanism for public oversight.