Representatives of the domestic defense-industrial complex held a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, dedicated to solving the problem created by the State Audit Service of Ukraine, calling into question the legality of profit-making by defense industry enterprises.
“The development of the domestic defense industry is among the priorities of the state and the Ministry of Defense. In modern conditions, we, the state, must act with the defense industry as one team. It is a matter of our defense capability. The domestic defense industry is one of the key factors of our independence,” the press service of the ministry said, citing Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Havrylov.
The meeting was attended by nine business associations of defense industry enterprises, which agreed to jointly advocate to the government to urgently resolve this problem for the defense of the country. The meeting participants also discussed the mechanisms of institutional cooperation with the Ministry of Defense with the help of the Ministry of Defense Accelerator and the formation of top issues and the processing of their solutions.
As reported, earlier representatives of the defense industry made a proposal to dissolve the State Audit Service of Ukraine due to its demand to return profits for the execution of the state procurement order for 2022. They reported that two or three months ago the State Audit Service conducted an audit of defense procurement and came to the conclusion that all profits of defense companies were considered a loss to the state, and then demanded that enterprises and customers return them. According to entrepreneurs, based on this letter, law enforcement agencies may initiate criminal cases against manufacturers who supplied weapons during 2022, and such possible actions by law enforcement agencies threaten to disrupt the state procurement order and shortage of weapons at the front.