Unscrupulous arms manufacturers intend to withdraw almost 6B from budget – State Audit Service

"The State Audit Service discovered numerous violations when unscrupulous manufacturers created various schemes to illegally withdraw billions of hryvnias from the state budget. It is unacceptable! In fact, this is looting during the war, which the manufacturers cover up with patriotic slogans. All information about relevant violations was sent to law enforcement agencies," Alla Basalayeva, head of the State Audit Service of Ukraine, informed.

She added that all attempts by manufacturers to shift responsibility for non-fulfillment of the terms of 100% state-funded contracts to auditors is a manipulation. As an example, she cited the situation with the Luch Design Bureau

"The conclusions made by the auditors will in no way lead to a halt in the production of critical types of weapons, including several missile systems," Basalayeva emphasized.

She said that currently the State Audit Service was conducting the audit of the Luch Design Bureau at the request of law enforcement agencies. Moreover, the previous audit of the enterprise was carried out 10 years ago.

“Luch Design Bureau is the contractor of a separate missile and missile defense program which is separately financed by the Government. Therefore, the conclusions made by the State Audit Service within the framework of the audit of the Ministry of Defense in no way affect the availability of financial resources of the Luch Design Bureau as the program performer. Therefore, any statements that the actions of the State Audit Service affect the development of missiles are manipulative. And according to the law, we can only record possible violations and provide recommendations to eliminate the identified deficiencies as soon as possible," Basalayeva said.