Scheme involving the double sale of apartments worth UAH 175 million exposed in the capital’s Pechersk district; a former deputy is among those involved
Kyiv • UNN
A former deputy of the Dnipro City Council is suspected of organizing a scheme involving the sale of apartments in a new development in Pechersk that already had owners. The state bank’s losses exceeded UAH 164 million; nine people have been notified of suspicion.
A scheme involving more than UAH 175 million has been uncovered in Kyiv, in which fraudsters sold apartments that already had owners, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on social media on Friday, UNN reports.
The same apartments were sold twice. The technical characteristics of the premises were changed, forged documents were used, and property rights were re-registered to new buyers. A large-scale real estate fraud scheme has been uncovered in a new development in Kyiv’s Pechersk district
As the Prosecutor General reported, "according to the investigation, it was organized by a former member of the Dnipro City Council." "He acquired the corporate rights to a group of companies that owned several unfinished properties in the center of the capital, including a residential complex in Pechersk," he said.
According to him, by that time most of the apartments in the building had already been sold to investors. Property rights to another 50 apartments, by a court decision, belonged to one of Ukraine’s state-owned banks. Only part of the premises remained unoccupied. However, the scheme’s participants disposed of the entire building as if its previous owners did not exist, the Prosecutor General added.
"To sell the apartments whose rights belonged to the state-owned bank, they changed the technical characteristics of the properties and used forged documents. In this way, 50 apartments were alienated in favor of third parties. The state-owned bank’s losses exceeded UAH 164 million," the Prosecutor General continued.
According to him, under a similar scheme, "another eight apartments, whose property rights already belonged to individuals, were sold again." People paid for the housing, but later the same square meters were registered to other buyers, he said.
"To further complicate the establishment of the rights of the defrauded investors, the scheme’s participants changed the legal address of the residential complex. And the 27-story building initially designed became a 32-story building after completion. The total amount of the established losses is more than UAH 175 million," Kravchenko said.
According to the investigation, "the illegally obtained funds were converted into cash, transferred through controlled companies, and invested in the purchase of property and other construction projects."
Nine people have been notified of suspicion: the organizer and eight accomplices. Depending on each person’s role, their actions have been classified as fraud, legalization of property obtained through criminal means, and the use of forged documents. The issue of selecting preventive measures is being decided
"And this may not be the full scope of the scheme. We are verifying information about other possible duplicate sales, establishing the full number of victims and the movement of the illegally obtained funds. The prosecutor’s office’s task is to establish every episode, return the property to its lawful owners, and bring all participants in the scheme to justice. We continue our work!" the Prosecutor General emphasized.
