They were supposed to develop new varieties of wheat, but instead they traded land for cash - a political scientist about the murky schemes of the National Academy of Sciences

Under the guise of scientific activity, the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine is actually trading in the huge land plots it owns. Perhaps some of the land should be left to them, if they really do carry out at least some scientific activities. The rest of the land should be distributed through transparent auctions. This opinion was expressed by the head of the expert group "Bureau of Policy Analysis" Viktor Bobirenko in an exclusive commentary to UNN.

Details 

Commenting on high-profile corruption cases and embezzlement involving NAAS officials, the expert noted that the reason for numerous abuses is the Academy's large land funds, which they dispose of uncontrollably. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies do not always work effectively.

"We have authorized bodies - the NABU, the SAPO, the Prosecutor's Office, the SBU - that are still dealing with this. And they have to pay attention to this. They (NAAS officials - ed.) manage a large land fund, and accordingly distribute the land fund for kickbacks. That's why they are caught. And others are not caught, perhaps because they share  with someone upstairs. If a link in the system, which is corrupt from top to bottom, starts to play dirty, it is the one that gets caught

That is, the fact that three officials from one NAAS were caught in a certain period, and not caught elsewhere, is only because they were isolated. Again, we need to give results, to say that the NABU and the SAPO are working: one was imprisoned, the other caught, and the third caught. But they didn't catch those, for example. Or they can act in a unique way: they make two detention protocols themselves  or something else, and one is done correctly procedurally, and the other incorrectly, and then you can buy them off: say, "Guys, let you get confused in papers, in procedural issues, they will bring you in now and everything will be fine. This may be the case. I am more than sure that not all investigators in the NABU are shady, but we understand that there may be corruption there as well," Bobirenko said.

According to the expert, there are serious doubts that the National Academy of Sciences conducts any scientific activity, so the land it uses should be put up for auction.

"If you give it (the land - ed.) to another manager, then corruption will start there as well. You can leave something to science, although I'm not sure that there are any scientific developments there now and that this academy is developing any new varieties of anything. Academics there are not developing new varieties of wheat and sunflower, they are selling land. Therefore, it is easy to give away these lands at an auction," the political scientist summarized.

Optional

Now it is time to withdraw from the National Academy of Sciences the land that is not used for scientific purposes and transfer it to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This opinion was voiced by political scientist Ruslan Bortnik in a commentary to UNN.

"It seems to me that it is time for the state to withdraw the land that is not needed by the National Academy of Sciences, which it does not use for its research purposes but leases out, to withdraw it into state ownership and sell it at an open auction or transfer it to the same soldiers of the Armed Forces, divide it up, or use it for state-owned commercial production of crops needed by the state. Obviously, these assets under the leadership of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences are often used inefficiently and corruptly, and they do not serve the interests of the Ukrainian people and the state," Bortnik said.

Recall

In August 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine transferred 25 state-owned enterprises that were previously subordinated to the National Academy of Sciences to the State Property Fund. The main value of these enterprises is their land bank. The SPFU plans to put these lands up for public auctions on Prozzoro.Sale. The first auctions are to be held in 2024.