A Ukrainian court has ordered Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky be taken into custody pending a corruption investigation focused on allegations he took part in an illegal acquisition of state-owned land worth some $11 million.

Solsky has denied the allegations, which relate to events in 2017-2021 before he started as agriculture minister in March 2022. 

The judge set bail at $A2.9 million.

Solsky is the first known minister under President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be named a suspect in a graft case.

The judge said Solsky would remain in custody until June 24 pending an investigation to determine whether he should be formally charged and put on trial. 

Prosecutors told a court hearing on Thursday the allegations were punishable by up to 12 years in jail. 

Solsky was unavailable for immediate comment.

The 44-year-old Solsky has been at the centre of Ukraine’s effort to keep its grain industry going as Russia’s full-scale invasion has blocked Black Sea export routes, strewn fields with landmines and left significant farmland occupied.

Kyiv has applied to join the European Union and its farming minister will be heavily involved in negotiations to integrate the country’s giant grain industry into the 27-member bloc.

Prosecutors say Solsky was part of a group of 12 officials and businessmen who organised a scheme to expropriate land from two state firms worth $1.27 million.

Solsky was working as a lawyer in 2017, was elected as an MP in 2019 and became the head of parliament’s agrarian policy committee.

Prosecutors said the land in question was transferred to war veterans on the condition they lease it to some private firms, and that the original ownership deeds for the land had been destroyed.

Solsky denied at Thursday’s hearing that he benefited from any such scheme.

A major farm union declined to comment on the Solsky custody ruling when reached by Reuters.

Zelenskiy has tried to project a zero-tolerance line on corruption and replaced his defence minister in 2023 after graft allegations relating to the defence ministry.

The government has implemented reforms to eliminate embezzlement schemes targeting state enterprises, increase transparency and introduce more digital state services as part of broader efforts to reduce corruption.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy’s government has stepped up asset seizures from companies and individuals in businesses that had been working with Moscow and financing pro-Russian media and political parties in Ukraine.

In September 2023, in one of the largest anti-corruption cases, authorities arrested tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky over a wide range of criminal charges including forgery and major fraud. 

Kolomoisky denies those charges.

–AAP