NABU notifies two deputy ministers of suspicion of power abuse

The suspects are likely to be First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi and former Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Hryban.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced the raids on its website.

Law enforcement officials believe that in March-August 2022, two similar schemes operated simultaneously in Ukraine.

The first one was run by the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy, who still holds this position. This is obviously Taras Vysotskyi. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau believes that he ensured the signing of contracts between Ukrzaliznytsia and a private company. This company purchased Polish products through an intermediary company at a price inflated from UAH 30 to 75.

The other scheme was the responsibility of an unnamed deputy minister of economy, who no longer holds this position. This may be Oleksandr Hryban, who held this position from December 2021 to June 2023. The NABU had previously conducted searches of Hryban's home. In his scheme, the products were supplied from Türkiye, and the price was inflated from UAH 30 to 55, although there were more favourable offers on the market.

NABU calculated that the state suffered UAH 62.5 million in losses as a result of these schemes.