Ukraine’s farm minister was ordered into detention Saturday as he faces organized crime charges, the latest high-profile corruption investigation among dozens now flooding the country’s court system.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days however he was released after quickly paying 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million) in bail, a statement said.
AP reports Solskyi is suspected of heading an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption and a dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has been embarrassing as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid from all around the world to help fight Russia’s army.
The European Union and NATO have both demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In 2023 nine senior government officials were purged in Ukraine as part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s response to those widespread allegations of corruption across his administration, as Breitbart News reported.
File/Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna speaks during the public event “Fighting Corruption in Ukraine: Progress Towards EU Membership”, held in Kyiv. (Eugen Kotenko / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Four deputy ministers and five regional governors were sacked by Ukraine’s cabinet in the move that came after Ukraine was ranked 116th out of 180 countries in a 2022 corruption perceptions index by campaigning and research organisation Transparency International.
Their sacking followed a Canadian NGO warning that Western weapons shipped to Ukraine could not only end up in Russian hands but may even end up being sold on the international black market.
The continued accusations of corruption and graft at the very highest level of government in Kyiv bookend last week’s approval by U.S. President Joe Biden of billions of dollars more in funding for the embattled country.
The U.S. Senate passed the foreign aid package on Wednesday. Just minutes after the vote, Biden signed the legislation into law “so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week.”
The $6 billion package of military assistance to Ukraine includes Patriot missiles and other munitions and support systems to counter Russia’s ongoing invasion.