Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi handed in his resignation Thursday following allegations he had been involved in the illegal acquisition of millions of euros worth of state land before joining the government.
Prosecutors on Tuesday accused Solskyi of leading a group involved in the illegal acquisition of 291 million hryvnias (€6.9 million) worth of state land and in an attempt to seize more property worth around 190 million hryvnias (€4.5 million) between 2017 and 2021, at a time he was working as a lawyer.
Solskyi submitted his resignation in a handwritten note, shared on social media by Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament.
“The application will be considered at one of the next plenary sessions,” Stefanchuk said.
Solskyi later added that he was leaving his fate up to the parliament.
“Yes, I have written a letter of resignation from the post of Minister. In this situation, I believe it is the right step. If the Verkhovna Rada decides to accept my resignation, I will be grateful for such a decision, and if it decides that I should continue working, I will continue working,” he said in a statement shared by the agriculture ministry.
The 44-year-old, who owns several agricultural businesses and is one of the wealthiest Ukrainian officials, is the highest-ranking minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to be named as a suspect in a criminal case. Last year, Ukraine’s NABU anti-corruption agency accused one of his deputies of participating in an embezzlement scheme involving the procurement of humanitarian aid.
Solskyi was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in 2019, and was appointed agriculture minister in March 2022 shortly after Russia’s invasion.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian media reported that he had fallen out of favor with Zelenskyy and was being considered for dismissal.
Several Ukrainian farm industry groups, including the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, expressed support for Solskyi on Thursday and said they were prepared to pay the €4.7 million bail demanded by prosecutors.
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