Roman Leshchenko

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Roman Leshchenko
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 December 2020
Website	https://minagro.gov.ua/ua

Roman Leshchenko is a Ukrainian politician who has been serving as Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food as of 17 December 2020.^[1][2][3] Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (2020), Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Land Issues since October 1, 2019, lawyer, instructor, agricultural entrepreneur.

Education[]

Roman was born on November 23, 1988, in the village of Penizhkove, Khrystynivka District of Cherkasy oblast. He studied at the Law School of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Candidate of Juridical Sciences, defended the dissertation Financial and Legal Regulation of Offshore Mechanisms, specialty 12.00.07, in 2015.

Career. Political Activities[]

Since 2007 Roman worked for the OSG Group, occupied the position of the main legal consultant of the holding.

Since September 1, 2013, Roman has been an assistant at the Department of Financial Law at the Law School of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. The areas of his professional interest are International Financial Law, Tax Law, Banking Law.

On October 1, 2019, Roman Leshchenko was appointed to the position of the Presidential Commissioner for Land Issues. While occupying this post, he worked on the land reform, took part in preparing and writing Draft Law No 2178-10 on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Circulation of Agricultural Lands as well as at the stage of its consideration in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Also, he vindicated the governmental support of the Ukrainian agrarians in the amount of 4 billion hryvnas for 2020.

On June 10, 2020, Roman Leshchenko was appointed the Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre.

On December 17, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed Roman Leshchenko as the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.

Activities in the position of the Head of StateGeoCadastre[]

Upon his appointment to the position of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre on June 10, 2020, Roman Leshchenko referred to the transfer of state-owned agricultural lands into management of the people, in particular territorial communities, as well as deprivation of the StateGeoCadastre of the function to manage state-owned lands as his program goal. Among other objectives, he announced preparation of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre for the launching of circulation of agricultural lands from July 1, 2021, as well as digitalization of services and transformation of the StateGeoCadastre into a service.

2020 Inventory[]

Roman Leshchenko started his work in the position of the head of the StateGeoCadastre with active anti-corruption activities and fight against theft of state-owned land. For that reason, he initiated internal inventory of orders of the StateGeoCadastre on free privatization of state-owned lands in the period from 2013 to 2020. All-Ukrainian audit of the institution – the first one in 7 years – was also made. The inventory revealed that in the period from 2013 to 2020 more than 690 thousand hectares of land were transferred from the state into private property through the mechanism of non-repayable privatization, with 570 thousand hectares provided for private agricultural purposes (2-hectare plots). Also, the in-house inventory revealed tens of thousands of facts of double privatization. Information of the violations, in particular double privatization of lands, revealed during the inventory of 2020, was passed along to the law-enforcement bodies. At the same time, the individuals who consciously or unconsciously took part in such activities were given a chance to return the lands which had been unlawfully privatized into the state ownership. In opinion of Roman Leshchenko, results of the inventory of 2020 prove that a public official must not dispose of public land. This right has to be returned to local communities. In 2020, apart from the in-house inventory, a full audit of state-owned enterprises in the sphere governed by the StateGeoCadastre was made under the tenure of Roman Leshchenko.

Truth about the current state of land legal relations[]

In October of 2020, the Head of the StateGeoCadastre, Roman Leshchenko, exposed shocking information about real situation with the balance of lands in the country. Ukraine has not had 10.4 state-owned agricultural lands for a long time. This is what the Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre said on air of “Freedom of Expression of Savik Shuster” on October 17, 2020. He stressed that more than 5 million of hectares of state-owned agricultural lands were in private property due to the so called system of “non-repayable privatization.” According to the Head of the StateGeoCadastre, the “split-up” of the state property began in 2001 when the Ukrainian parliament passed the Land Code and introduced the mechanism of “non-repayable privatization” of lands. Later, in 2002, alterations to the Law on Local Self-Government were introduced, having deprived the local communities of the right to dispose of land. Since that time, according to Roman Leshchenko, clans of officials who resorted to administrative intervention were formed. Thus, 2-hectar plots with gas, lithium, amber and other mineral resources which belonged to the Ukrainian people were transferred into private property under the pretense of agricultural lands.

People’s Land Forum On October 15, 2020, Chernihiv region saw the historical forum the People’s Land during which the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, signed the Decree on the start of transferring state-owned agricultural lands into disposal of the United Territorial Communities after the local elections held on October 25, 2020.

On November 16, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved Ruling No 1113, with the order of the StateGeoCadastre launching the process of transferring state-owned lands to territorial communities on November 17, 2020. During the forum Roman Leshchenko broke the news that the local communities will be transferred more than 2 million hectares of agricultural lands. This process over, around 750 thousand hectares of agricultural lands will remain on the balance sheet of the government (lands of the Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Defence, Penitentiary Service, etc.). As of December 24, 2020, 1216 territorial communities had already received as their communal property 1.91 million hectares of agricultural land which had been previously owned by the state.

Reorganization of the StateGeoCadastre in 2020[]

While occupying the position of the Head of the StateGeoCadastre, Roman Leshchenko significantly reorganized the institution.

For this reason, on November 16, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine passed Order No 1118 Issue of Functioning of Territorial Bodies of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre. It envisaged liquidation of the Main Departments of the StateGeoCadastre in oblasts and the city of Kyiv as juridical persons of the public law and creation of territorial bodies of the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre as structural subdivisions of the Central Office. Being the head of the StateGeoCadastre, Roman Leshchenko stresses that the reorganization of the institution was needed in connection with the change of functions of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, in particular the function to dispose of the state-owned agricultural lands, with the view to transforming the StateGeoCadastre into a service. As a result of the reorganization and change of its functions, the StateGeoCadastre was subject to downsizing by 60%. “This is one of the largest institutional reorganizations in the history of Ukraine. By preliminary estimates, it will enable us to save 500 million hryvnas and allocate them to the digitalization of the country, optimization of registers and full-scale launching of the national infrastructure of geospatial data,” said Roman Leshchenko.

The history of land reform[]

On February 19, 2021, Roman Leshchenko presented to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky a pilot project of the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NGDI).

On April 15, 2021, the Parliament approved the budget for the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. For it voted 275 deputies. On April 29, the President signed a law amending the 2021 state budget to finance the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

Roman Leshchenko took part in the NAB project and told in an exclusive video about two episodes of great land corruption. In one of them, for issuing orders to allocate land to fictitious persons, the offenders intended to give the official 170 thousand dollars. USA.

On April 21, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution "On Amendments to the Procedure for Using Funds Provided in the State Budget to Provide Financial Support for the Development of Farms." It envisages simplifying the mechanism for providing support to farms, as well as eliminating administrative barriers to obtaining it.

On April 28, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of Bill 2194 “On Amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts to Improve the System of Management and Deregulation in the Sphere of Land Relations”, overcoming more than 2,000 amendments. The document is also called the Land Constitution. "Now the right to dispose of land is transferred to local communities permanently and irrevocably. From now, the State Geocadastre is only a service organization, maximally deregulated, with eliminated corruption powers in land resources management, ” - Roman Leshchenko.

On April 29, 2021, the Geoportal was presented to the public. The pilot project included 6 cities of Ukraine: Bila Tserkva, Zhytomyr, Lviv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv and Poltava, as well as Kharkiv and Lviv regions and 100 united territorial communities from different regions of Ukraine. "It is a law that makes the land cadastre transparent and open, which gives the public information about all natural resources, who uses them, who is the owner, who received land for free, who pays taxes, where illegal logging takes place, where we have problems with fires, any man-made disasters, whether legal or illegal construction is carried out. In fact, this is a large database of our state within the framework of the main positions that you have outlined to us in the implementation of land reform, "- Roman Leshchenko.

On May 18, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada, in plenary session, after overcoming 800 amendments, adopted in second reading the bill № 2195 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Concerning the Sale of State and Communal Land Plots or Rights to Them (Leases, Superficies, Emphyteusis) through Electronic auctions ".

On May 20, 2021, the Agrarian Committee of the Verkhovna Rada considered the revised Law on the Association of Water Users № 5202 and recommended it for adoption in the session hall.

On May 24, 2021, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the bill № 2194 at the All-Ukrainian Forum “Ukraine.30. Land" "The 1.5-year journey ended in victory for the Ukrainians. This is an unprecedented event, as communities are now becoming the legitimate creators of land relations. They are the owners and managers of their lands. These basic and understandable things are now gaining importance, ” - Roman Leshchenko.

On May 24, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred reclamation systems to the coordination and management of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. The government decided to establish the State Agency for Land Reclamation and Fisheries of Ukraine.

On May 26, 2021, the Government of Ukraine approved a resolution on the Procedure for the Functioning of the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Defense returned to its ownership a land plot of about 7.7 thousand hectares, which is located in the village. Girls. Back in 2013, it was illegally given for permanent use to another government agency. Later, out of 7.7 thousand hectares of defense lands, 540 hectares were withdrawn from state ownership. Almost half of them were in the hands of 15 commercial structures, the rest were privatized by private persons.

On June 24, 2021, the President of Ukraine signed the bill № 2195 "On land auctions".

On July 1, 2021, the Law on Agricultural Insurance was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the second reading. Agricultural insurance was the goal of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, set out in the Development Strategy until 2030 (approved in March 2021).

On July 1, 2021, the Minister of Agrarian Policy Roman Leshchenko officially announced the start of the Land Reform. "We have made a huge breakthrough for our state. After all, land is not a question of ideology, not politics, but of the welfare of people and the state! Land tenure has always been a privilege of the minority - we have made it the right of all citizens, " - Roman Leshchenko.

Attempted Bribery[]

In December of 2020, the Head of the StateGeoCadastre was offered a bribe in the amount of 170 thousand dollars for clearing and issuing orders to allot land in Khmelnytskyi oblast’ to some front persons within programs of interaction with farms. On December 9, the World Day to Combat Corruption, NABU and SAPO detained the acting head of the Main Department of the StateGeoCadastre in Khmelnytskyi oblast’, Yuriy Klymko, on suspicion of attempted bribery of the Head of the StateGeoCadastre, Roman Leshchenko. NABU added that the suspects were detained at the moment of the attempted transfer of the improper advantage. According to the investigators, acting head of the Main Department of the StateGeoCadastre in Khmelnytskyi oblast along with the intermediary Oleksiy Kovaliov were planning to transfer 170 thousand dollars of improper advantage to Roman Leshchenko for issuing orders to allot land plots to counterfeits. They were detained following the transfer of the second tranche in the total amount of 25 000 US dollars. The total amount of the improper advantage intended for issuing orders to allot land plots to front men was expected to be 170 thousand US dollars. It was Roman Leshchenko who went to the anti-corruption bodies at the beginning of September, 2020. After that, NABU detectives along with SBU officers started documenting the crime.

“We have been working to track down all participants of the scheme and its final beneficiaries for three months. On December 9, the World Day to Combat Corruption, we accomplished this long way,” Roman Leshchenko said during the press-conference held on the occasion of detention of officials of the StateGeoCadastre on October 10, 2020. 

Later, the Higher Anti-Corruption Court ruled to take the both into custody with the alternative option of bail.

Citations[]

On powers of the Head of the StateGeoCadastre: “I might become the first Ukrainian official who will ask the parliament to reduce my powers. However, this is the future of an effective land reform.”

On the scope of theft of lands. “When you were said that the country had 10 million hectares of state-owned lands, it was a lie. The country has practically been plundered. Not so much land is left. We have transferred 2 million hectares to territorial communities, with 0.75 million remaining free. The state has been looking in the distorting mirror for 30 years. The StateGeoCadastre has been institutionally functioning as a mechanism to split up Ukrainian state-owned lands with the aim of accumulating them by some families who, being extremely reach, can be participants of a separate land Forbes.”

On corruption in the sphere of land: “There are families in each oblast who own large areas of land. Conventionally, there are Vinnytsia, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv clans. Each of these clans is divided by spheres of its influence depending on groups of regional elites.”

On the need to transfer land to citizens. “It was in the first two weeks in the position of the head of the StateGeoCadastre when I clearly realized that the central executive body could not dispose of state-owned land. It is impossible for an official either in Kyiv, Kharkiv or Odessa to know where hayfields and pastures are better. I am confident that land must belong to the people who have to decide how to use it. This is what the global aim of the land reform lies in.”

On the need of land reform. “The land reform legalizes the status of the title to land and enables to see the real value of land. In the last 15 years, the value of land has increased ten-fold. The leasing rates as well as capitalization of land are constantly growing. The land is the best deposit, though certain market conditions and free competition for land are needed for it to work.”

Interesting facts[]

• The youngest Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food in the history of Ukraine • The first Head of the StateGeoCadastre who suggested narrowing his powers in terms of land management Scientific degrees, academic ranks • Candidate of Juridical Sciences – dissertation Financial and Legal Regulations of Offshore Mechanisms, specialty 12.00.07, in 2015.

Private life[]

Married. Wife Alla, sons Mykola and Hennadiy.

References[]