Ukraine’s Minister of Agriculture, released from custody, after paying bail of 1.78 million euros

Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mikola Solski, placed in pre-trial detention on Friday on corruption charges, was released later in the day after paying a bail of 75.7 million hryvnias, the equivalent of about 1.78 million euros, announced his ministry, according to AFP, quoted by Agerpres.

After his release, he “will continue to exercise his duties” as a minister, the same announcement states. Mikola Solski submitted his resignation from the position of Minister of Agriculture on Thursday, but it still needs the approval of the parliament to become effective.

The Ukrainian national anti-corruption agency announced on Tuesday that Mikola Solski is suspected of appropriating public lands “worth about 6.9 million euros” and of an attempt to “appropriate other lands” worth about 4, 5 million euros, in complicity with officials from the state service in charge of cadastre and mapping, facts dating from the period 2017-2021.

Mikola Solski worked for a law firm until 2019, when he was elected to parliament, then appointed minister in March 2022, shortly after the launch of the Russian invasion.

The authorities in Kiev have exposed several cases of corruption since the beginning of the war with Russia. Former Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov himself was replaced in September 2023 following a series of corruption scandals involving his ministry. President Volodymyr Zelensky disputes the idea that corruption is an endemic phenomenon in Ukraine and has promised that, after the war, he will be able to deal with it.

Publisher: CLB

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