The All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers, the Union “Mukomols of Ukraine” and the Association of bakery enterprises “Ukrkhlebprom” appealed to law enforcement authorities and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) with a request to stop the prosecution of the First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky and to drop charges against him for using his official position during the state procurement of products in March-April-2022.
“We convincingly ask the leadership of law enforcement agencies, primarily the NABU, to objectively consider all the circumstances and facts, make the right conclusions and stop the prosecution of one of the most decent and professional officials”, – stated in the available “Interfax-Ukraine” appeal of three business associations, uniting the majority of producers of bakery products, flour, cereals and pasta.
The business associations expressed surprise at Vysotskyy’s notification of suspicion of committing a criminal offense under part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (use of official position to obtain an unlawful benefit for a legal entity contrary to the interests of the service) and assured law enforcement agencies that in this case there was an unfortunate mistake.
“We, as producers of essential products, remember well those extra difficult times of the beginning of the full-scale war with the Russian invaders, which stood on the outskirts of the capital, when it was a question of survival and ensuring food security of the state. A huge role in this process was played by the leadership of the relevant ministry, and first of all by T.M. Vysotsky, because it was thanks to his honest and highly professional actions to manage and coordinate the activities of the industry that it was possible to avoid interruptions and abuses in the supply of food to the population and the AFU”, – said public organizations.
They called the accusations against Vysotskyy groundless and asked law enforcement agencies to carefully familiarize themselves with the position of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, which they fully share.
As reported, on 24 August, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) accused the first deputy minister of agrarian policy of Ukraine, Vysotskyy, of abusing 62.5m hryvnyas in the purchase of food products to meet the needs of the state during martial law.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy published a statement specifying the accusation received by Vysotskyy. In March-April 2022, he allegedly coordinated invoices for regional military administrations (RMAs) for the purchase of imported durum wheat pasta from Olimp LLC and WinsideLight LLC at inflated prices, which caused damage to the state in the amount of UAH 63 million. The investigation indicates that the cost of pasta products as of March-May 2022 ranged from 33.65-36.89 UAH/kg.
“The investigation does not take into account that the State Statistics Service of Ukraine for the period of March-May 2022 provides prices for pasta from durum wheat varieties for 500 g, and the purchase of 1 kg was carried out, so the price exceeded 72 UAH/kg, which excludes damage”, – emphasized in the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and added that the said arithmetical error should be taken into account and corrected by the investigation.
In addition, the investigation was advised to take into account the existence of a public contract for the supply of food products and its terms and conditions, which were not determined by Vysotsky. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy was not a party to the contract, all contracts were agreed upon by the regional military administrations. Vysotsky, in turn, drew the attention of the OVA representatives to the need to conclude deals at the lowest possible prices.
