NABU and SAP have sent to court a case of a criminal group led by a former member of the Ukrainian parliament – the head of the agrarian committee of the Verkhovna Rada (at the time of the crime being exposed, he was a minister). Its participants are accused of seizing 2.5 thousand hectares of state land in the Sumy region worth over UAH 280 million and attempting to seize another approximately 3.2 thousand hectares.
Читай нас також у Viber та Telegram.
The group included top officials of the StateGeoCadastre, as well as individuals who controlled the activities of these bodies, the so-called curators.
As the investigation found out, in 2017 the owner of a number of agro-companies, who later became a member of the Ukrainian parliament of the IX convocation and headed the agrarian committee of the Verkhovna Rada, in collusion with the then head of the StateGeoCadastre and curators of the StateGeoCadastre bodies, decided to seize land in the interests of a private agro-holding. It was about plots that were in use by two state enterprises in the Sumy region.
The scheme was implemented in several stages.
Initially, its participants ensured the destruction of documents on the basis of which state enterprises had the right to permanent use of the land. Due to their absence, the regional StateGeoCadastre drew up an act of unauthorized occupation of these plots by state enterprises.
In order to prevent the transfer of land to third parties, it was put up for auction for the right to lease, but no auctions were held.
Subsequently, with the help of subordinate officials of the regional StateGeoCadastre, the plots were transferred into private ownership to pre-determined individuals under the guise of realizing their right to free land.
At the same time, a condition for obtaining land ownership was the signing of a lease agreement with the agro-holding even before receiving the land.
As a result of the scheme’s implementation in 2017-2021, its participants seized 1250 land plots with a total area of 2.5 thousand hectares, the value of which at the time of the crime was over UAH 280 million. They also attempted to seize 3244 hectares of land worth over UAH 195 million, but were prevented by NABU detectives and SAP prosecutors, who conducted searches and imposed arrests on the plots.
On April 23, 2024, NABU and SAP announced suspicion to 13 members of the criminal group, including the former MP who at that time held the position of Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.
In December of the same year, the investigation in the case was completed, and the materials were made available to the defense for review.
Warning. According to the first part of Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict.