ARMA announces competition to manage seized Volitsia-Agro complex

The Asset Realisation Agency (ARMA) has launched a selection process for a manager to oversee the seized assets of Volitsia-Agro LLC. This entity is linked to former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi. The case involves a significant industrial facility, not just individual agricultural buildings.

What is included in the seized complex

The key asset is a grain elevator with a capacity of up to 60,000 tonnes, located on a 4-hectare plot of land. The list of assets also includes:

• warehouses and production facilities;
• administrative buildings and workshops;
• a weighing station, a sawmill, and a transformer substation;
• outdated livestock facilities, including former cowsheds, pigsties, and a calf pen;
• automotive vehicles;
• wheat stored in the elevator silos.

All these objects are located in Bila Tserkva city, as well as in the villages of Yablunivka and Dmytrivka in Kyiv Oblast.

Grain scandal and legal consequences

A high-profile scandal has erupted around this farm. Law enforcement agencies previously documented a scheme of fictitious grain sales worth 63 million hryvnia. Mykola Solskyi and other defendants in the case were charged with fraud on an especially large scale. However, the involvement of each suspect must be confirmed through court proceedings.

Following the publicity of the incident, major grain traders have become significantly more cautious regarding the purchase of grain from third-party elevators. Companies linked to the South-Kyiv agro-holding have faced the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings.

Financial risks for grain owners

There is a critical nuance that may deprive owners of the grain, which allegedly disappeared from the elevator according to the investigation, of compensation even after the sale of the seized assets. The elevator is pledged to Sens Bank. This means the bank has priority rights to receive funds from the sale of the pledged asset.

Thus, the situation remains complex: ARMA is seeking a manager for the assets, law enforcement is investigating a grain case worth tens of millions, and the creditor has priority over the proceeds. The question of whether grain owners will be able to recover their lost assets remains open for now.