He himself continues to maintain that he has done ‘the right thing’: Ukrainian minister arrested for corruption

Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky, who resigned on Thursday on suspicion of corruption, has been arrested. Solsky is accused of illegally appropriating state land.

Source: BELGA

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Solsky, 44, is the first sitting minister in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government to be named in a corruption case. Solsky owns several agricultural companies and is one of the richest Ukrainian government officials. The man rose to international fame as a central figure in efforts to keep Ukraine’s grain industry afloat after Russia’s invasion, which blocked export routes to the Black Sea.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solsky of tampering with the ownership rights of 2,500 hectares of land in the northern Sumy region from 2017 to 2021. This involved approximately 6.5 million euros. The land was originally owned by two state-owned companies, but was illegally transferred to war veterans. Solsky was working as a lawyer at the time and represented those veterans. Supervisors were paid to turn a blind eye to the whole thing. According to the anti-corruption bureau, large sums of money were embezzled as a result of the tampering.

Their intervention also reportedly thwarted a second attempt to take over another 3,300 hectares of land.

Dismissal

Solsky resigned as minister on Thursday. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in 2019 and became Minister of Agriculture shortly after the Russian invasion. He says he is prepared to “continue working” if parliament refuses his resignation.

Solsky and his attorney told Thursday’s hearing that he did not benefit from the land settlement. He will remain in pre-trial detention until at least June 24, the public prosecutor’s office specialized in corruption cases said. “I guarantee maximum openness to get to the truth, but that is not necessary – all data is accessible to law enforcement and the evidence and arguments of the parties are examined by the courts,” Solsky said earlier this week. He also reportedly said he “did the right thing.”

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, several cases of corruption have emerged in Ukraine, especially within the military. But usually it concerns civil servants in lower positions.