A registrar from the Odesa region was sentenced for the illegal sale of institute premises

A former state registrar of the Black Sea City Council was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally registering the premises of the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetics in Odesa. At the same time, the former official was exempted from paying a fine related to another aspect of the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

This is stated in the verdict of the Black Sea City Court of Odesa Oblast.

According to the case file, on August 8, 2019, the former registrar of the State Registration Department of the Black Sea City Council issued two decisions on the initial registration of ownership rights to non-residential premises No. 1A and No. 6A in a residential building at 3 Ovidopolskaya Road in Odesa. The decisions were dated approximately 15 minutes apart: at 10:58 a.m. and 11:13 a.m. 

A woman was listed as the owner, who, according to contracts dated August 15, 2000, allegedly purchased them fromGazEnergoStroy Investment House LLC. The court determined that the premises actually belong to the state, represented by the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, and that the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetics holds them under the right of operational management. The court found the documents on which the registrar based her actions to be unreliable. 

The “selling” company turned out to be Russian. It was registered on October 11, 2000—that is, after the date of the contracts. The archives did not confirm that the district administration had issued certificates of ownership to this company in 1997.

The woman in whose name the property rights were registered testified that she had never purchased real estate in Odesa or the surrounding region, had not signed any contracts or deeds, did not know the defendant, and had lived in the Cherkasy region until 2018.

The defendant did not admit guilt. She claimed that she had the right to access the registry, did not alter any information, but rather added new entries because there were no records for these properties. According to her, she made mistakes due to carelessness. The defendant also claimed in court that she did not receive any monetary compensation from the woman for whom she had registered the property rights. 

The illegal registration of ownership was revoked, so the educational institution did not suffer any losses. 

Юлія Калабайда