The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) have completed the investigation in the case against a former Ukrainian MP and his accomplices over the misappropriation of crops worth 30 million hryvnias, SAPO said.
"A SAPO prosecutor decided to complete the pre-trial investigation in the case against a former Ukrainian MP and his accomplices. The individuals were exposed for seizing agricultural products of state enterprises belonging to the structure of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine," the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said in a Telegram post on Friday.
The statement does not name the former MP; based on the details of the case, it concerns Anatolii Hunko.
According to SAPO, NABU detectives have opened the case materials to the defense for review at the prosecutor’s instruction.
The pre-trial investigation established that in 2021, the MP, acting in prior conspiracy with the director of one of the research farms and an accomplice, arranged for the unlawful harvesting and removal of agricultural products.
"This concerns 990 tonnes of sunflower and 1,400 tonnes of corn with a total value of 27.3 million hryvnias, which were transported to controlled private grain storage facilities in Chernihiv and Poltava regions," SAPO said.
The following year, the suspects, acting in conspiracy with a different state enterprise director, continued their criminal activity by shipping 203 tonnes of sunflower from a research station. The actual harvest volumes were deliberately omitted from reporting.
Total damages to the state amount to nearly 30 million hryvnias.
The suspects are charged as follows: the former MP of the ninth convocation (scheme organizer) — part 3 of article 27, part 5 of article 191 of the Criminal Code; a Kyiv regional council deputy (co-organizer) — part 3 of article 27, part 5 of article 191; two heads of state enterprises within the NAAS structure — part 5 of article 191; a private individual (accomplice) — part 5 of article 27, part 5 of article 191.
