Position: First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy.
The sphere of corrupt activity: abuse of official position for the purpose of obtaining an illegal benefit.
Region of corruption activity: City of Kyiv.
Qualification: Part 2 Art. 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of three to six years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.
Status: Suspicion was reported, preventive measure was chosen in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 4,997,608, he is at large.
In September 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court decided to reduce the amount of bail for Taras Vysotskyi. The initial amount of the pledge, which was almost UAH 5 million, was reduced to UAH 3.02 million.
The plot of the case: Vysotskyi approved in the period March-April 2022 for the regional military administrations Accounts for payment for the purchase from 2 business entities LLC "Olympus" and LLC "WinsideLight" pasta products from durum wheat varieties of imported production. At the same time, the investigation believes that the cost of pasta products is overestimated and as a result caused losses in the amount of 63 million hryvnias. The investigation identified two episodes.
In the first case, investigators indicate the purchase of products at the expense of "Ukrzaliznytsia" for the population of eight regions and the city of Kyiv. They were allegedly held at prices that were 2-3 times higher than market prices. At the same time, purchases were made from a Polish company, but they were carried out through an intermediary. As a result of the implementation of the scheme from March to August 2022, "UZ" suffered losses of 28.8 million hryvnias. According to the investigation, the scheme was organized by Taras Vysotsky.
The second episode deals with the purchase of products from a foreign manufacturer from Turkey. Thanks to the involvement of controlled companies in the scheme, prices were inflated. At the same time, the law enforcement officers claim that the ex-Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksandr Hryban was also involved in the implementation of the scheme. He was remanded in custody in the form of bail in the amount of UAH 939,400. In this case, losses of UAH 33.7 million were caused to "Ukrzaliznytsia".
It is worth noting that the authorized capital of WinsideLight LLC, which made purchases, was registered in 2021 with an authorized capital of UAH 500.
As you know, the court imposed a preventive measure on Vysotsky in the form of a 4.99 million hryvnia bail with obligations, namely: to arrive at the first request; not to leave Ukraine without permission; to report a change of residence and place of work; refrain from communicating with a number of people and hand over foreign passports. Later, his bail was reduced, but the list of duties remained unchanged. The SAP prosecutor asked them to continue.
The High Anti-Corruption Court has extended the term of office of Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky until October 5, 2024.
Extend the suspect (Vysotsky - ed.) the period of validity of the duties imposed on him in connection with the application of a preventive measure in the form of bail for one month, i.e. until October 5, 2024, but within the period of the pre-trial investigation
Persons potentially involved in the corruption schemes of Taras Vysotskyi.
Oleksandr Hryban, ex-Deputy Minister of Economy who, like Vysotsky, was suspected by NABU for a corruption scheme involving the purchase of macaroni.
Assets: According to Taras Vysotskyi's declaration for 2022, he owns two apartments in the city of Glevakha, Kyiv region, with an area of 37 square meters. m and 76 sq. m which has been in his possession since 2014.
Vysotsky also owns a house with an area of 128.7 square meters. m in the village of Kunyn, Rivne region, which the official has owned since 2002.
In the same village, Vysotskyi owns 5 plots of land with a total area of 14,593 square meters. m.
Vysotskyi and his wife Iryna also own two cars. Vysotsky owns a 2017 Ford Mondeo worth UAH 811,000. The wife owns a Kia Rio car worth UAH 536,000 purchased in 2022.
Vysotskyi owns the ownership right to the "Kukulabiya" trademark. With this name on the Internet, you can find the Agrarian Park "Kukulabiya", which has not been working since 2018. Vysotskyi also declared 47,000 hryvnias of income from renting out apartments and 922,000 hryvnias of wages. Vysotskyi's wife declared 1 million 127 thousand UAH of salary.
Vysotsky keeps 79,101 thousand dollars and 8,971 euros in bank accounts. The accounts of Vysotskyi's wife contain 22,727 thousand dollars and 435,879 thousand UAH.
Scandals: Vysotsky was repeatedly associated with agrarian oligarch Yuriy Kosyuk. Journalists noted that it was Kosyuk who lobbied for the appointment of Vysotsky to the post of deputy minister. Prior to that, Vysotskyi worked as the general director of the "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business" association, which lobbied Kosyuk's business interests for many years. Kosyuk's company had a privileged position compared to other farmers, as evidenced by the unprecedented amount of state subsidies allocated from the budget to support Kosyuk's enterprise. In particular, in the period 2017-2018, MHP received 2.4 billion hryvnias from the state budget, despite the fact that it was always profitable and regularly paid millions in dividends to shareholders.
The distribution of budget subsidies received by Kosyuk was carried out by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy Commission to provide state support for animal husbandry, storage and processing of agricultural products, and aquaculture. Taras Vysotskyi was a member of this Commission precisely during the period of subsidization of the MHP, that is, he directly participated in the adoption of unsubstantiated decisions regarding the allocation of budget funds to enterprises that did not need support in terms of profitability.
Persons who should have responded to Vysotsky's corruption schemes:
In the case of Vysotskyi, law enforcement agencies reacted, namely NABU under Vysotsky was charged with suspicion, but the case was not brought to court for more than six months.
Sources :
VAKS continued the investigation into the case of Deputy Minister Vysotskyi