Illegal planting of corn on state land: ESBU completes investigation

 Almost 865 hectares of state land in the Lutsk district ended up under illegal corn crops. Now, three defendants in this case will stand trial.

Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Volyn region have completed the pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings regarding the illegal transfer of state-owned land for use. The indictment has been referred to the court.

This concerns nine agricultural land plots that were in the permanent use of a state research agricultural enterprise within the system of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS).

It was established that the owner of a private company agreed with the officials of the state enterprise on the actual use of these lands without proper legal grounds. To create the appearance of the legality of business operations, the parties drew up formal civil-law agreements—service contracts and certificates of completion.

Employees and agricultural machinery of the private company gained access to the land plots, cultivated them, and planted them with corn. As a result, the state enterprise effectively lost the opportunity to use this land and generate income.

Consequently, these actions caused damage to the state enterprise exceeding 8.3 million UAH. Currently, the incurred losses have been compensated through the harvesting and sale of the corn crop, and the land plots are under the full control of the state enterprise.

An indictment has been referred to the court regarding three individuals involved in the case: the owner of the private enterprise—under part 3 of article 27, part 2 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; the former acting head of the state enterprise—under part 2 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; and the acting farm manager—under part 5 of article 27, part 2 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Operational support was provided by employees of the Security Service of Ukraine Management in the Volyn region. Prosecutorial guidance was ensured by prosecutors of the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office.

According to part one of article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court's guilty verdict.