The Ministry of Defense complained to the Ministry of Justice about the change of the head of DPA in the state register

The Ministry of Defense sent a complaint to the Ministry of Justice due to the entry of data about the head of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) in the state register — there Arsen Zhumadilov was replaced by Maryna Bezrukova.

This is reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

The application to the Board for Reviewing Complaints in the Field of State Registration under the Ministry of Justice was received on January 30.

The Ministry of Defense insists that on January 29, a private notary illegally made changes to the information about the head of the AOZ — instead of the temporary acting Zhumadilov, he entered Maryna Bezrukova, whom the head of the defense department Rustem Umerov suspended from his position for the duration of an internal investigation.

The Ministry of Defense believes that the decision to change the manager was made in violation of the requirements of the law and the companyʼs charter.

Change in the management of DPA

On January 20, the Supervisory Board of the Agency submitted a recommendation to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to extend the contract of the current director of the Agency Maryna Bezrukova for one year.

On January 23, the supervisory board concluded an additional agreement to extend the contract with Bezrukova. However, the next day, Umerov reported the dismissal of his deputy Dmytro Klimenkov and a change in the leadership of the Defense Procurement Agency. Umerov noted that the results of arms procurement were unsatisfactory, so the system needed to be changed. Instead of Bezrukova, the agency will be headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, who currently heads the State Logistics Operator.

The Ministry of Defense also recalled two state representatives from the supervisory board — Taras Chmut, director of the "Come Back Alive" foundation, and former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Yuriy Dzhyhir.

On January 25, the Defense Procurement Agency announced that it would continue working under Bezrukovaʼs leadership, despite Umerovʼs decision. However, on January 27, Suspilne, citing its own sources, wrote that Minister Umerov had initiated an internal investigation into the agency, and Bezrukova had been suspended from work for the duration of the investigation.

The Anti-Corruption Center criticized Umerovʼs decision not to extend the contract with Bezrukova. The Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Center Darya Kalenyuk previously explained that the Supervisory Board has the legal right to extend the contract with the Director of the Defense Procurement Agency without the consent of the Ministry of Defense.

Bezrukova herself said that her relations with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov "began to deteriorate" due to the incident with low-quality 120-mm mines.

On January 28, it became known that, at the request of the Central Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau had launched an investigation into possible abuse of power by Umerov when he fired Bezrukova.

• The Defense Procurement Agency was created in July 2022, modeled after the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. Its task is to make arms purchases for Ukraine transparent and eliminate corruption. Since January of this year, the agency has been headed by Maryna Bezrukova.

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