Case description
The NABU and the SAPO suspect Mykola Solskyi, former Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, of allegedly seizing land in the Sumy region amounting to more than UAH 290 million.
According to the investigation, in March 2017, Solskyi decided to take possession of land plots owned by state-owned enterprises that were part of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.
The co-organizers of the crime concealed documents confirming the right of the state-owned enterprise to use the land plots. Consequently, the State Geocadastre Commission was misled into believing that the SOEs were using the land arbitrarily without sufficient legal grounds. Therefore, the lands were put up for auction, and the accomplices found people (mostly ATO participants) who were to receive the plots and subsequently lease or sell them to the criminal group controlled by Agrofirma Dovira 2008 LLC.
The prosecutor also argued that Solskyi's deputy Markiyan Dmytrasevych was involved in the dismissal from the post of the director of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine: the accomplices tried to influence the appointment of the desired candidate for president of the NAAS.
Furthermore, Dmytrasevych allegedly ensured that land plots in the Sumy region were included in the list of vacated plots. Later, the deputy minister arranged the entire package of documents that were signed by the involved ATO participants.
Another accomplice, Ihor Koshevyi, who was involved in the selection of participants in the scheme, effectively received a salary from Solskyi. Also involved in the case were Oleksandr Kolotilin, former head of the State Geocadastre; Solskyi's trustee Mykola Antoniuk, and Mykhailo Buhrymenko, director of a private firm. The actions of the defendants were classified under Article 191, clause 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Additionally, the criminal group is suspected of attempting to seize land plots worth an additional UAH 190 million.
After Solskyi's dismissal, his deputy Taras Vysotskyi, a defendant in another NABU case related to the purchase of pasta at inflated prices, has been acting as the head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food. Read more about this case here.
