Analyzing NABU's case against Agriculture Minister Solskyi

Mykola Solskyi, a lawyer by education, was one of "The incumbent minister was exposed for embezzling state land worth UAH 291 million ($7.3 million) and attempting to appropriate another UAH 190 million ($3.8 million)," the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported via Telegram on April 23. the first individuals to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team. Given his high office and good knowledge of the current government's behind-the-scenes activity may turn Solskyi into a valuable informant if he enters into a deal with the prosecution.

Zelenskyy's first Chief-of-Staff Andriy Bohdan invited Solskyi to the Servant of the People party before the 2019 parliamentary elections, NV Business sources said. He had headed the parliamentary Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy for three years before he was given the current ministerial portfolio in March 2022. The minister managed to overcome the toxic association with Bohdan by pushing through the establishment of a land market Ukraine. The law entered into force on July 1, 2021, and became Zelenskyy's key political achievement.

So, why has this case surfaced right now? Solskyi was put on the "blacklist" of government officials who are expected to be dismissed from ministerial positions, NV Business sources say.

"His name has been mentioned several times among those who are expected to be dismissed," we were told.

In addition to Solskyi, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, Justice Minister Denis Malyuska, and Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin may lose their positions. We speculate that given his looming dismissal, NABU decided to press charges against Solskyi at this time.

• To whom are Ukrainian farmers selling their grain...
• Ukraine Latest: Credit Rating Pushed Further Into Junk by S&P, 7 Apr