Only a small portion of revenues from Ukrainian arms exports in the last four years was passed on to the state budget, the former head of a parliamentary ad-hoc investigation commission said on Friday."In the past four years, Ukraine exported over $2.5 billion in arms, but only about 1 billion hryvnias ($200 mln) was paid into our state budget. This is 12 times less," Valery Konovalyuk, from the opposition Party of Regions, said during a Kiev-Moscow video conference.
He also said his commission had obtained documents from Ukraine's State Treasury confirming the discrepancies. "On instructions from the prime minister, a probe into the financial activities of Ukrspetsexport [the state arms exporter] has been launched," Konovalyuk said.
The parliamentary commission was set up after Russia accused Ukraine of supplying Georgia with heavy weaponry prior to a brief military conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi in August.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on October 2 that he considered alleged Ukrainian arms supplies to Georgia during the recent war over South Ossetia "a crime." "I don't think there is a graver crime than supplying arms to a conflict zone," Putin told his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, during their meeting at the Russian premier's residence near Moscow.
Ukraine's State Council on Security and Defense immediately dismissed Konovalyuk's allegations, calling them "absurd."
| I'd check his pockets first ... |
However, with the dissolution of Ukraine's parliament the activities of the commission have effectively been ended and the future of the investigation remains vague.