Shypailo, a member of parliament from the Servant of the People party, resigned his seat amid an investigation into the embezzlement of land belonging to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine
Ostap Shipailo, a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” faction, has resigned his parliamentary seat. He is one of the individuals implicated in the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine’s (NABU) investigation into the embezzlement of land belonging to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.
According to NABU case files in the case of convicted former Member of Parliament Anatoliy Gunko, $150 per hectare was collected monthly for the illegal lease of NAAS land, of which $50 was directed “to the faction.” Shipailo was responsible for collecting these funds and met repeatedly with the former head of the NAAS, Yaroslav Gadzal, as documented by law enforcement during the investigation. In light of these circumstances, new charges are expected to be filed against the individuals involved in the case.
People’s Deputy Oleksandr Dubinsky wrote about this in a Telegram post.
On September 3, the Verkhovna Rada approved the requests by Andriy Zhupanin and Ostap Shipailo to terminate their parliamentary mandates early. Both members of parliament represented the “Servant of the People” parliamentary faction.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have referred to court a case involving a group led by former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi. The case concerns 2,500 hectares of land in the Sumy region, which were state-owned and managed by the state-owned enterprises “Iskra” and “Nadiya,” both part of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences (NAAS).” Investigators estimate its value at 291 million hryvnias.
The prosecutor’s office secured the return to the state of 564 hectares of particularly valuable land belonging to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. This is roughly equivalent to 800 soccer fields, with a value exceeding 418 million hryvnias.
