Seizure of 18 hectares of land outside Kyiv: sanctioned ex-MP from the Yanukovych era and developer suspected
NABU and SAPO have uncovered a scheme to seize and subsequently legalize 18 hectares of state-owned land worth more than UAH 160 million.
Those involved in the scheme include a former Party of Regions MP, a developer, a former head of a regional office of the StateGeoCadastre of Ukraine, and several individuals under the control of the scheme’s organizers. All have been notified of suspicion under Part 5 Article 191 and Part 3 Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, in the spring of 2021, during a corporate conflict between the former MP and the developer over control of an agricultural wholesale market in the Kyiv suburbs, the developer devised a plan to divert the market’s assets to companies and individuals under her control.
To implement the plan, officials of the Main Directorate of the StateGeoCadastre in the Kyiv region, in violation of established procedure, made changes to the State Land Cadastre. This enabled the agency to dispose of a land plot of more than 150 hectares on which the wholesale market was located. Subsequently, the land plot was leased to a company controlled by the developer.
After that, the company's head relinquished part of the leased land in favor of nine pre-determined individuals who, based on an order signed by the acting head of the StateGeoCadastre in the Kyiv region, and in violation of land legislation, became owners of nine plots totaling 18 hectares.
Later, these plots were sold through sham transactions to three companies linked to the developer.
In the process of settling the conflict, the developer and the former MP signed a memorandum (a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement”) on the joint use of the land, including for construction. And in September 2021, a trusted associate of the former MP became a beneficiary of the companies that owned the land plots.
Further disposal of the land was prevented by an arrest imposed at the request of SAPO prosecutors.
According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered not-guilty in the commission of a crime and cannot be subject to criminal punishment until he or she is found guilty by court.
