Ukraine anti-corruption agency accuses food minister of illegally acquiring state-owned land News
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Ukraine anti-corruption agency accuses food minister of illegally acquiring state-owned land

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) on Tuesday announced that it had exposed a scheme to illegally acquire state-owned land worth $7 million between 2017 and 2021 led by a criminal group involving the country’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Mykola Solsky. The NABU didn’t openly name the Ukrainian minister but said the criminal group included the ex-head of the agrarian committee of the Verkhovna Rada, a current minister, top officials of the State Geocadasre bodies, and people who controlled the activities of these bodies.

According to investigations, Solsky cooperated with several officials of the State Geocadastre bodies to take possession of nearly 2,500 hectares of land in Sumy, a region in the northeast of Ukraine, thanks to a system of misappropriation of official documents. The investigation revealed that the plotters first destroyed official documents that gave two state-owned enterprises the right to use the land permanently. This move paved the way for the regional State Geocadatsre to pass a law on the arbitrary occupation of land plots. Later, the ownership of the plots was transferred to predetermined citizens under the claim of realizing citizens’ right to free land but under the condition of signing an agreement to lease the land to a private agricultural holding before the acquisition.

Implementing this legal arrangement allowed the minister to take possession of over 1000 land plots with a value of more than 291 UAH at the time of the crime. Furthermore, the same suspects attempted to seize an additional 3000 hectares of land, but the timely intervention of NABU detectives and prosecutors prevented it. The NABU stated that it had notified several people involved in this case, including the minister, of their indictments.

Solsky replied to these accusations in a statement and confirmed that he had received an official notice of suspicion from the NABU. Additionally, he pointed out that between 2017 and 2018, he was neither the Minister of Agrarian and Food Policy of Ukraine nor a public official. Still, he guaranteed maximum openness to establish the truth. Solsky also added that the case is related to an old legal dispute between state-owned enterprises and soldiers that the court resolved.

Over the last few years, Ukraine has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, and several cases involving politicians and public officials have been exposed. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian Defence Minister suspended a senior official who was involved in an embezzlement scheme.

The fight against corruption is one of the major conditions the 27 European states laid down to approve Ukraine’s membership in the EU.

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