Lawyer of village council in Odesa region detained over land for construction of multi-storey building

Prosecutors of the regional prosecutor's office have served a notice of suspicion to the head of the legal department of one of the village councils in Odesa district.

According to the press service of the prosecutor's office, the detainee is charged with negligence that caused grave consequences.

According to the investigation, the official was involved in the illegal free transfer of a 5-hectare land plot to a developer for the construction of a high-rise residential complex. The regulatory monetary value of this land is over UAH 46 million.

PHOTO: Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office

The investigation found that in 2022, the head of the legal department had all the necessary documents and knew that there were no legal grounds for non-competitive free allocation of land to a particular construction company. Nevertheless, she approved a draft decision for consideration by the standing committee and the session that contradicted the requirements of the law.

The deputies, unaware of the violation, voted in favor of allocating the land to the company by a majority. At the same time, the law provided for the transfer of land exclusively through a land auction and on a competitive basis.

PHOTO: Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office

In order to allocate the land to a particular company, a tender was organized for their own, and the participation of other companies was only formal to create the appearance of competition. This, in particular, is confirmed by screenshots of the lawyer's telephone correspondence. As a result of the illegal free transfer of land to the developer, the local budget lost more than UAH 4.6 million for land use.

Earlier, the Tatarbunary District Court of Odesa Oblast found a local resident guilty of unauthorized occupation of land in protected areas and sentenced him to three years in prison. The man was released from serving the court-ordered sentence on probation for a year and a half.

Кирило Бойко