Anti-graft watchdog reveals corruption schemes in agrarian sector for $78.1 mln

In particular, about UAH 70 million, or $2.7 million, has been compensated due to the joint investigation by the detectives and prosecutors of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office within the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, the report says.

"Corruption in the agricultural sector represents mainly fraudulent activity with land and waste of funds and property of the state-owned enterprises. The NABU is now investigating illegal transactions with respect to almost 8,000 hectares of the state-owned agricultural land," reads the report.

Read alsoNABU opens criminal cases against 37 top officialsThe scheme, resorted to by corrupt officials, involves squandering the funds and property of enterprises with the participation of intermediary companies, to which products are sold at discounted prices. After that, they resell it at market prices. As a result, revenues are deposited in the accounts of intermediaries, which are sometimes under the control of the state enterprises' CEOs.

"For example, the damage was inflicted by PJSC State Food Grain Corporation. According to the facts, the detectives of the NABU investigated at least five criminal cases. Two of them have already been submitted to the court," the NABU said.

"Illegal actions of the Presidium of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences (NAAS) can be an example of large-scale corruption. In 2008-2016, it initiated the adoption of a number of decisions, according to which 200 hectares of state land were transferred to private ownership. Thus, according to the investigation version, the presidium of the NAAS formally 'satisfied the constitutional rights of citizens,' but in fact committed a crime, which caused about UAH 1 billion [$39.1 million] damage to the state," the NABU added.