Ukraine’s justice system issued a preventive arrest order this Friday against the Minister of Agriculture, Mikola Solski, who has already resigned after being accused of corruption.
According to local press, the Ukrainian Supreme Anti-Corruption Court issued an order for detention for at least 60 days, which Solski can avoid if he pays bail of 75.7 million hryvnia (1.78 million euros).
Solski submitted his resignation on Thursday – which must be accepted by the Ukrainian Parliament – after being accused this week by the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
According to NABU, before becoming minister, Solski was part of a group that illegally appropriated around 2,500 hectares of land that belonged to the State, valued at 291 million hryvnia (around seven million euros).
The agency is also investigating the minister for allegedly trying to transfer another set of public land, valued at 190 million hryvnia (4.5 million euros), to private parties.
The events occurred, according to NABU, between 2017 and 2021. Solski was chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Land Policies between 2019 and 2021, before being appointed minister in 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made combating corruption at the highest level one of his priorities in times of war, to modernize the country and meet the requirements for membership of the European Union.
Tags: Ukrainian court orders detention Agriculture Minister corruption
