Almost all the land received by ATO participants is now under cultivation, taxes are paid from it, and jobs are created - Mykola Solskyi

The transfer of land plots to ATO participants, which for years the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine has been using for "gray" schemes of its own enrichment, is an absolutely correct step, because the purchasers of the land receive rent, crops are grown on the land, and taxes are paid to the budget. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Forbes by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky, UNN reports. 

Details

According to the Minister, the emergence of real owners of land has had a positive impact on Ukraine's economy.

"The state has distributed 5 million hectares of land for free privatization, including hundreds of thousands of combatants. In total, about 1 million hectares have been distributed under this procedure. More than 90% of these lands are under cultivation. They pay taxes and create jobs," notes Solsky.

This mechanism is in contrast to the "gray" schemes of expropriation of state land used for years by state-owned enterprises of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. 

"Look at the taxes paid by these state-owned enterprises. They paid only a meager land tax," the minister adds.

In his opinion, if some law enforcement officers believe that the defenders of Ukraine received the land illegally, then, according to their logic, they are criminals.

"That is, according to the investigation, we helped the ATO members take possession of the land. The investigation calls it a criminal offense. That is, according to law enforcement, combatants are accomplices in the crime?" explains Solsky, who in 2017, as a lawyer, helped ATO participants obtain land for free.

Optional

Solsky described how the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine illegally leased state land and received cash for it. In many cases, however, the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences and its state-owned enterprises could not even confirm their right to use these land plots.

Recall

Experts interviewed by UNN are inclined to believe that the absence of suspicions against the ATO soldiers who received the land plots involved in the case of Minister Solsky may mean that they did not commit criminal acts when receiving them, and question the investigation's version that the land was allocated illegally. 

Context

NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors served Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi with a notice of suspicion of allegedly organizing a scheme to seize 2,500 hectares of NAAS land.

Solsky himself says that the circumstances of seven years ago relate to the period of his lawyer's activity, long before he was appointed minister. His defense lawyers  claim that Solsky did not benefit from the fact that ATO soldiers acquired the right to the land.

In 2019, the Supreme Court confirmed in its decision that Iskra and Nadiia had no legal grounds to claim the land that ATO participants had received.

"During the consideration of the case, the courts of previous instances found that there were no state acts for the right to permanent use of land plots both for SE Iskra, SE Nadiia and the companies whose legal successors they are.

In addition, the courts found that the decisions on granting the disputed land plots for permanent use to SE Iskra and SE Nadiya were not made in accordance with the procedure established by the Land Code of Ukraine at the time of filing a lawsuit," reads the ruling of the panel of judges of the Commercial Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court of 5 August 2019.

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