Cabinet appoints interim heads of two ministries
14 May 2024 15:12
The Cabinet of Ministers has appointed interim heads of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. The Ministry of Finance will be headed by Vasyl Shkurakov. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy will be headed by Taras Vysotskyi. This was announced by the representative of the government in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
“The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has temporarily assigned the performance of duties: Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine to Taras Mykolayovych Vysotskyi, Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine to Vasyl Oleksandrovych Shkurakov,”
– Melnychuk said.
What is known about Shkurakov
Vasyl Shkurakov was born in 1982.
In 2005, he graduated from the Ukrainian State University of Economics and Finance, with a master’s degree.
From 2005 to 2017, he worked at the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, where he worked his way from an economist to the director of the Department, and from 2018 he worked in the ministry as a deputy minister.
From 2017 to 2018, he held the position of Deputy General Director for Economics and Finance of UKRGYDROENERGO PJSC. In 2020, he was appointed General Director of Ukrfinzhitlo PJSC.
Vasyl Shkurakov has been the First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine since August 2021. He remained in this position despite the merger of the ministry.
What is known about Taras Vysotskyi
Taras Vysotsky was born in 1986 in the village of Kunyn, Zdolbuniv district, Rivne region.
In 2008, he graduated from the National University of Bioresources and Nature Management of Ukraine, majoring in “Administrative Management”, with a master’s degree in management.
He started working in 2006 as a manager of the private enterprise “Zdolbunivvetpostach”.
From 2011 to 2013, he was an expert on agricultural markets at Nika PP LLC.
During 2013-2019, he worked as an expert of agricultural markets, general director of the “Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business” Association.
In 2019, he held the position of first deputy head of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration.
From 2019 to 2021 – Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine.
Since 2021, Taras Vysotskyi has held the position of First Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture.
In August, the SAPO and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau served suspicion notices to high-ranking officials in a procurement abuse case. Among them is Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, also known as the former Deputy Minister of Economy. Investigators claim that the abuse amounted to 62.5 million hryvnias.
Vysotskyi himself has not publicly commented on the suspicion. Instead, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy confirmed the fact of the proceedings, but stated that it was not a party to the contract and was not the administrator of the funds in the procurement involved in the case, and disagreed with the investigation’s version in general.
It should be noted that on 9 May, members of the Verkhovna Rada supported the resignation of Mykola Solsky as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food. Solsky wrote his resignation letter himself.
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky submitted his resignation to the Verkhovna Rada on 25 April after being served with a notice of suspicion of misappropriation of state land worth UAH 291 million and an attempt to misappropriate another UAH 190 million.
The minister, for his part, said that this relates to the period from 2017 to 2018, when he was practising law. Solsky also said that the case involved a dispute between state-owned enterprises and individuals who had been legally transferred land.
The High Anti-Corruption Court imposed a measure of restraint on Solsky in the form of arrest with an alternative of bail in the amount of UAH 75 million 700 thousand.
Theminister was bailed out by the court in the amount of UAH 75.7 million, but the ministry did not specify who did it. Mykola Solskyi was released from custody and, moreover, continued to act as the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
Solsky had been in office since March 2022.
We would like to add that on 9 May, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.
Earlier, Kommersant Ukrainian wrote that the highest political level had decided to dismiss Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov and Head of the State Agency for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa-Masi Nayem.
