Kherson Official Faces Fraud Charges Over ₴17M Land Scam Scheme

An official of the Kherson State Geocadastre has been served a notice of suspicion of fraud in land fraud. So far, nine participants in the criminal scheme have been exposed, five of whom have received suspended sentences.

This was reported by the press service of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office.

According to the investigation, the suspect was part of a fraudulent scheme organized by one of the local government officials. The purpose of this scheme was the misappropriation of more than 300 hectares of agricultural land on the territory of the Tyahyn community of Beryslav district. In the period from May to August 2024, in his role, the suspect monitored the State Land Cadastre to find plots without owners, which he passed on to the organizer of the scheme.

Based on this information, fake cadastral registry certificates were produced, in which fictitious persons were listed as owners. With the help of these false documents and state acts, the defendants registered the ownership of five land plots, after which the plots were divided into two parts each, thus creating 10 new plots with separate cadastral numbers, which complicated the detection of the crime.

The prosecutor's office served a notice of suspicion to an employee of the State Geocadastre of Kherson region of committing a number of serious crimes, including misappropriation of property worth over UAH 17 million, forgery of official documents and their further use. In particular, he is charged under Articles 27, 190, 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The suspect has been chosen as a measure of restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of bail in the amount of UAH 605 thousand. Along with him, law enforcement officers have already exposed nine participants in the scheme, including both organizers and executors of the crime. Five of them have already been sentenced to 5 years in prison with a probationary period, and the pre-trial investigation is ongoing against the remaining four people, including the organizer.

The prosecutor's office is also seeking the confiscation of 15 hectares of land in Mykolaiv region owned by Russian citizens. They leased these plots to Ukrainian agricultural companies and made a profit despite the war. At the same time, the local State Geocadastre did not take any action to seize the land.

In addition, the environmental prosecutor's office in Mykolaiv region filed a lawsuit to return more than two hectares of water fund land owned by the Stepiv village council to the community. This territory is part of the KaterynivkaReservoir Hydrological Reserve, but was illegally transferred to private ownership.

Анна Бальчінос