Photo from UNIAN
The company chose the product according to the best price offer.
First Deputy Director General of Ukraine's state-run military-industrial Ukroboronprom Concern Serhiy Omelchenko says the only company producing altimeters for An-26 planes is an enterprise located in the Russian Federation.
"There is a mechanism consisting of a tender and competitive approach to the procurement of components. In this case, the best price offer was chosen from those that were available in response to the request of Ukrainian aviation enterprises with a relevant specialty and certification for the supply of aviation elements," he said at a press conference in Kyiv, answering the question on whether Ukroboronprom had checked where AN Service LLC received altimeters from, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
To the remark that earlier at the press conference he said that the best offer was only from one company, so what kind of tender he was talking about, he said: "The only winner with his offer really provided the best price. And it was the only one who could deliver this altimeter."
The company chose the product according to the best price offer, the official said.
Answering the question on who was the manufacturer of altimeters for An-26 airplanes, Omelchenko said: "The only company producing such altimeters is an enterprise from the Russian Federation."
Read alsoUkroboronprom reacts to new part of probe into procurement of components at inflated prices
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian investigative journalists on February 25 released a report claiming that Ihor Hladkovsky, the son of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky, is involved in large-scale embezzlement of budget funds in the defense sector.
It is alleged that Hladkovsky Jr. and his partners conspired with defense officials to procure military spare parts from Russian smugglers, as well as from Ukrainian Army warehouses. Prices for spare parts, which journalists say often failed to meet quality standards, were hiked significantly. Then, the journalists reported, the perpetrators would sell these goods to defense plants in conspiracy with top managers of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's state-owned Defense Concern.
The group allegedly earned from Ukroboronprom at least UAH 250 million in kickbacks.
The journalists consider Oleh Hladkovsky to be Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's ally set to informally "supervise" the country's defense industry.
On February 26, Poroshenko suspended Oleh Hladkovsky from office, pending a criminal investigation.
On March 4, Poroshenko signed a decree to dismiss Hladkovsky from the post of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
Investigative journalists claim that net profit in a scheme to buy An-26 altimeters originating from Russia was at least US$300,000, which was paid from Ukraine's national budget.
Involved in the scheme were the then First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky, his son Ihor Hladkovsky, Pavlo Bukin, who is now Director General of state-run Ukroboronprom Concern, and former employees of Ukroboronprom Vitaliy Zhukov and Stanislav Khosh, who were business partners of Hladkovsky Jr., journalists from the Bihus.Info investigative project reported.
Ukroboronprom paid $580,000 for the equipment whose purchasing price was about $85,000, the investigation says.