Two High-Ranking Ukraine Officials Found to Have Misappropriated $1.6 Million

Two high-ranking Ukraine government officials have been embroiled in a corruption scandal and found to have misappropriated $1.6 million in funds.

First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi, and an unnamed former deputy minister of the economy were alleged to have misused about $1.68 million in government money, UPI reports.

Vysotskyi took advantage of the Ukrainian railway company Ukrzalinznytsia for one of the schemes, anti-corruption officials said, as the country continues to fight against corrupt officials found in all levels of government.

“From March to August 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia overpaid companies participating in the scheme UAH 22.7 million [$610,000]. Having been received, the funds were transferred to a foreign company with signs of fictitiousness for further legalization,” the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said in a press release Friday.

“Draft records outlining the distribution of the ill-gotten gains were discovered during a search at a scheme participant’s place,” NABU said.

NABU said “he was aware of the actual market value of the products, as he regularly received relevant data from the state statistical service.”

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired all regional military recruitment heads after an officer, Yevhen Borisov, was found to have up to $5 million in assets hidden in his mother’s name in Spain, as Breitbart News reported.

Some 112 criminal cases were also opened against military enlistment offices throughout the country, with Zelensky claiming there is evidence that “some took cash, some took cryptocurrency” in exchange for helping men avoid being sent to the frontlines.

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