Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) accused the country’s Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi of involvement in schemes of illegal appropriation of state-owned land worth a total of 481 million hryvnias, according to Bloomberg.
Mykola Solskyi, who supervised Ukraine’s grain exports since taking office a month after the war broke out in February 2022, received a notice of suspicion from the NABU and the prosecutor’s office on Tuesday, April 23.
The minister denied his guilt, arguing that he “guarantees openness” to authorities regarding activities that took place before he assumed office, according to the statement by the ministry. The land mentioned in the charges was part of a legal dispute between state-owned enterprises and private individuals, he added.
Intensifying anti-corruption efforts and reducing oligarch control of the economy were top demands for creditors, including the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, which began accession talks with Kyiv at the end of the previous year.
The scheme linked to Solskyi involves the seizure of about 2,500 hectares of land in Sumy Oblast (Region) in northern Ukraine worth about 291 million hryvnia ($7 million) between 2017 and 2021, according to the NABU. Investigators nipped in the bud another attempt to embezzle land worth another 190 million hryvnia, the watchdog added.
Public outrage over corruption also played a part. Last year, anti-corruption officials launched an investigation into suspected overpriced food purchases for war-affected regions. Solskyi’s deputy, Taras Vysotsky, was implicated in that investigation.
Last September, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov as part of the biggest wartime cabinet reshuffle. The former head of the Defence Ministry had long denied allegations of bribery in military procurement by his subordinates.
