In Mykolaiv Oblast, an official was punished for land fraud involving a park

A court found Serhiy Kotsyuba, the former first deputy head of the State Geocadastre’s Main Directorate in Mykolaiv Oblast, guilty of abuse of office. As a result of his decisions, land that was supposed to be protected by the state was transferred to private ownership.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

As the court established, Kotsyuba had the authority to approve land management documentation and was aware of the special status of the park’s lands. Despite this, he signed orders transferring the plots to citizens without the necessary approvals from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the regional ecology department.

In August 2017, the official transferred two plots, each measuring 2 hectares. Both were located entirely within the boundaries of the “Pryingulsky” Park. In October of that same year, another plot measuring 1.5 hectares was transferred to private ownership. Its value was 68,700 hryvnias.

In early 2018, he transferred a fourth plot measuring 2 hectares, which experts valued at 91,600 hryvnias.

In total, 7.5 hectares of land from the nature reserve fund were transferred to private ownership. Experts determined that the state suffered losses amounting to 343,500 hryvnias.

The court classified Kotsyuba’s actions as abuse of official position resulting in serious consequences. In late July, the prosecutor and the defendant reached a plea agreement. Kotsyuba pleaded guilty.

In addition to the main penalty, Kotsyuba must pay 68,700 hryvnias in expert examination costs. He fully compensated the victims for their losses and voluntarily donated an additional 10,000 hryvnias to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The former deputy head of the State Geocadastre’s Main Directorate in the Kherson region is also suspected of organizing a scheme to illegally transfer 50 hectares of agricultural land in the Skadovsk district out of state ownership.

Анна Бальчінос