The High Anti-Corruption Court has remanded Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyy in custody with the possibility of bail of UAH 75 million. This was reported by Suspilne. The prosecutor requested bail of 200 million for the suspect, the Anti-Corruption Action Centre adds.
The Minister is suspected of seizing state land worth UAH 291 million and attempting to seize land worth another UAH 190 million. He pleads not guilty.
The suspect claims that the case dates back to 2017, when he was not yet a minister, and concerns a dispute between state-owned enterprises and ATO veterans. The dispute, according to the minister, concerns the land that veterans were granted possession of.
The prosecution's version of the story is that Solskyy and other participants in the scheme destroyed documents on the basis of which two state-owned enterprises in Sumy Region had the right to use the land permanently. Due to their absence, the regional StateGeoCadastre drew up an act of unauthorised occupation of these plots. In order to prevent the transfer of the land to unauthorised persons, it was included in the list for an auction for the right to lease, but no bidding was held. Then, thanks to the controlled officials of the regional StateGeoCadastre, the plots were transferred to the ownership of pre-determined citizens under the guise of exercising their right to free land. The condition for receiving the land was to sign an agreement on its lease to a private agricultural holding before receiving it. The scheme operated from 2017 to 2021.
Two days after the announcement of the suspicion, Solskyy resigned. The application must be considered by the parliament.
In addition to Solskyy, his deputy was also suspected. Markiyan Dmytrasevych is currently abroad - according to the Ministry, on a business trip.