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A former minister from the Yanukovych era is suspected of embezzling more than 5.6 million hryvnias in grant funds

A former minister from the Yanukovych era is suspected of embezzling more than 5.6 million hryvnias in grant funds

24 June 2026, 18:01

A former minister from the Yanukovych era is suspected of embezzling more than 5.6 million hryvnias in grant funds — The former Minister for the Environment of Ukraine during the tenure of ex-President Yanukovych has been notified that he is under investigation

A former Member of Parliament and ex-Minister for Environmental Protection during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych is suspected of embezzling over 5.6 million hryvnias of public funds. The individual in question is believed to be Viktor Boiko.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police.

According to the investigation, an agricultural company in the Cherkasy region, owned by the former minister, received 5.6 million hryvnias in grant funding from the state budget in January–February 2024 to set up new lines for the production of compound feed. They were supposed to purchase equipment, create jobs and pay taxes and duties.

Instead, they transferred these funds to the account of a company under their control. The suspects reported on the fulfilment of the grant conditions in forged documents, in which they stated that they had expanded their workforce and purchased equipment. This resulted in losses to the state amounting to 5,607,143 hryvnias.

The former minister, his partner in the agricultural company and their accountant have been notified of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — misappropriation or embezzlement of another person’s property, committed on a large scale by a group of persons acting in collusion. They face between 7 and 12 years’ imprisonment.

The investigation has not disclosed the name of the former minister under suspicion; however, according to sources cited by ‘Ukrainska Pravda’, the individual in question is the former Minister for Environmental Protection of Ukraine during the Yanukovych era (2010), a Member of Parliament of the fourth convocation, and the head of the supervisory board of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Viktor Boiko.

As a reminder, on 17 June, law enforcement agencies concluded their investigation into former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and 16 former officials.

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