The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court has extended the term of the pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings against ex-minister Mykola Solsky for another eight months. This resolution is published on the Website of the unified state register of court decisions.
"Extend the term of pre - trial investigation in criminal proceedings submitted to the unified state register of legal entities No. 52019000000000 dated 15.07.2019 to eight months, that is, until December 23, 2024 inclusive," the text of the resolution says.
In April 2024, anti-corruption officials announced suspicion to the then Acting Minister of Agricultural Policy Mykola Solsky. the case refers to the events of 2017-2018, that is, long before Solsky became a minister. According to investigators, the land plots in the Sumy region allegedly belonged to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, but were privatized by the ATO participants. Salsky, who at that time was a private lawyer, helped them exercise their right and get 2 hectares of land.
In order for the NABU's accusations to be confirmed, they first need to prove that this land really belonged to the naan – but so far there are no data and official documents. Moreover, the fact that there were no documents for the land, say themselves representatives of the agrarian Academy.
As it turned out, in the declarations of the ex-minister for the period from 2020 to 2023, there is not a single land plot in Sumy region. Law enforcement officers at the request of UNN also did not specify what exactly the ex-minister took possession of in this case.
Moreover, it became known that the detectives tried to "merge" the expert examination, which they themselves ordered and which, obviously, was supposed to indicate Solsky's innocence.
And although during this time the anti – corruption officers could not provide clear evidence of the "guilt" of Mykola Solsky, loud accusations did their job-he left the post of Minister. In addition, the NABU's statements and the minister's resignation caused the disruption of negotiations with the poles on unblocking the borders.
In Kazan, NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors have been investigating criminal proceedings on the alleged seizure of land plots in the Sumy region since July 2019, that is, for almost 5 years. Reasonable terms of pre-trial investigation have long expired, so detectives are now forced to continue them through the court.
However, five years of investigation of the case is not a record for NABU detectives. There are cases that anti-corruption officers have been investigating since the creation of the NABU, that is, since 2015. For example, criminal proceedings against the former head of the company "Energomerezha" Dmitry Kryuchkov and all this time he is forced to live with significant restrictions.
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The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is "known" for its ability to loudly announce the exposure of another scheme and announce suspicion to a top official. However, these cases often fall apart in the courts or do not even reach there.
A clear example is the criminal proceedings against former Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan. Both cases fell apart in the courts. However, the NABU did not officially apologize to the ex-minister for illegal criminal prosecution and damage to business reputation.