NABU plans to interrogate ATO soldiers in the case against Solskyi, despite the fact that most of them are at war - Director of the Bureau
Kyiv • UNN
The NABU intends to question more than a thousand ATO soldiers in the case of ex-Minister Solsky, despite their participation in the fighting. Expert examinations and court rulings cast doubt on the validity of NABU's suspicions of illegal land acquisition.
Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine plan to interrogate ATO soldiers as part of the investigation into the criminal proceedings against former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solsky, despite the fact that many of them are now defending the country. This was stated by NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, UNN reports.
Context
Anti-corruption investigators from the NABU and SAPO have been investigating a criminal case of alleged land grabbing in Sumy region for more than 5 years. Despite the fact that the reasonable timeframe for the investigation has already expired, detectives plan to interrogate more than a thousand more ATO soldiers.
The detective and the senior prosecutor will determine who can be questioned in this criminal proceeding. There is a pre-trial investigation plan and it will be achieved, including taking into account the circumstances you have mentioned
At the same time, he added that he believes that detectives have gathered enough evidence to serve a notice of suspicion to former Minister Solsky.
Evidence is now being collected to prepare an indictment
However, society now has many questions about the validity of the suspicion against the former minister. According to anti-corruption activists, eight years ago, Solsky (when he was a lawyer) organized a scheme whereby NAAS land was transferred for privatization to ATO soldiers. However, the defense and the ATO soldiers themselves argue that the privatized land never belonged to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, and therefore the NABU's claims are null and void, and the privatization procedure is legal.
To establish the truth, NABU needs to prove that the land in question really belonged to the National Academy of Sciences. However, the score is still 0:2 in favor of Solsky. The first significant factor was the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine - the judges found that the land incriminated to Solsky really never belonged to the NAAS.
Moreover, this was confirmed by a scientific and legal expert opinion. The expertise showed that Solskyi and other NABU suspects could not have taken possession of the land of the National Agrarian Academy, as this land did not belong to the NAAS.
Thus, the main intrigue of the whole case is whether the detectives will be able to prove that the land belonged to the National Academy of Sciences. After all, if the NABU does not prove this fact, the case is likely to fall apart. This may be evidenced by the fact that the detectives tried to "leak" the examination, which they themselves had ordered, and which was obviously supposed to testify to Solsky's innocence.
