The Anti-Corruption Center has submitted a complaint against Umerov to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The Center for Combating Corruption has submitted a statement to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau claiming that Ukraine's Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov has committed a crime as outlined in part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – abuse of power or office.

This is mentioned in a post by the CCU on Facebook.

According to activists, the Minister of Defense refused to comply with the decision of the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) regarding the extension of the contract with Director Marina Bezrukova for another year. Umerov also dismissed two members of the Supervisory Board who voted for this decision – Taras Chmut and Yuriy Dzhyhir.

“The DPA Statute provides for the establishment of a Supervisory Board, meaning that the Ministry of Defense, as the governing body, lacks the authority to refuse the extension of the contract with the current head of the DPA. According to paragraph 7 of part 1 of Article 11–4 of the law ‘On Management of State Property,’ such exclusive competence belongs to the Supervisory Board. Moreover, Article 6 of the law, which defines the powers of authorized management bodies, including the Ministry of Defense, does not grant the ministry the right to usurp the exclusive powers of the Supervisory Board,” the statement reads.

The organization believes that the minister's decision not to extend the contract with the head of the DPA was made with an abuse of his power and official position, “intentionally, with the aim of gaining benefits and contrary to the interests of the Ministry of Defense.” The CCU added that, in their assessment, this decision has caused severe consequences for Ukraine's interests and its defense capabilities.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov announced that he had submitted a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers for the dismissal of his deputy Dmytro Klimenko and made the decision not to extend the contract with Bezrukova. According to the minister, both agencies were in the same conditions this year. One fulfilled its duties, while the other “only created media noise.”