Having built a grain complex and received state compensation, “Maiak Agrofirm” LLC in Cherkasy region has been the subject of a criminal case and its founder faces imprisonment. At the same time, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy had no complaints about the fulfillment of the conditions for receiving state support and still does not have any.

“Maiak Agrofirm” was founded in 2000 by Mykola Vasylchenko, a Hero of Ukraine. Today, the agricultural enterprise has got 8,400 hectares of land under cultivation. The company grows traditional crops and fodder, has 4,000 heads of cattle, 25,000 pigs, and its own processing facilities. The farm employs 260 local residents and regularly pays them share payments. In 2004, they began construction of a grain complex, including a dryer and elevators. The money was invested gradually. In 2019, the complex was put into operation. In total, the farm spent more than UAH 55 million on this project.  The agricultural enterprise decided to take advantage of the state livestock support program to compensate 30% of the grain complexes construction. According to Oleksii Vasylchenko, the son of the founder, they submitted all the necessary documents to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and received UAH 15,142,000 of compensation in 2020.

"The first investigator appeared on the farm in 2021. They started looking for something to complain about. They couldn't think of anything better than overpaid wages. A government agency calculated that we could pay UAH 8,000 to the builders per month, but we paid UAH 16,000. According to the law enforcement, we allegedly embezzled more than UAH 2,000,000 in this way. Now my seventy-year-old father is being threatened with detention. Although before we received the state money, we had no criminal case against the farm," said Oleksii Vasylchenko.

Lawyer Dmytro Loshakov, who defends the rights of the enterprise, says that law enforcement officers have not yet familiarized them with the examination and investigation materials.

"We would like to draw attention to the fact that the facility was fully constructed, put into operation, and only after that the documents were submitted to the commission of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, which decides whether to allocate state support or not. There were no complaints from them and there are none today. The salaries were paid according to the law and taxes were paid on them. The money went to the builders.  It's good when people can get more for their work, and the management of the enterprise wants to prosecute them for it," said Dmytro Loshakov, a lawyer at Mayak Agrofirm LLC.

However, law enforcement officers are still standing their ground. The company was searched, but nothing was seized. And the managers are being "bombarded" with subpoenas. The agricultural firm appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office to conduct inspections of the investigative bodies that are conducting this case.

"We consider this as a pressure on a business that seeks to develop, pays all taxes, creates jobs and pays its share contributions regularly," added Oleksiy Vasylchenko.

The Ukrainian Agri Council is concerned about such actions of law enforcement agencies.

"Over the years of the farm's existence, the UAC has never doubted the honesty of its management, as evidenced by the tens of millions of hryvnias paid in taxes to the budgets of all levels. We also wanted to draw attention to the continuous assistance provided by the farm to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.  Instead, law enforcement officers want to create obstacles for responsible business in these difficult times. The UAC will be closely monitoring the investigation. We hope for a speedy resolution of the situation around Mayak Agrofirm," said Denys Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the UAC.