The Odesa deputy is suspected of real estate fraud of ₴10 million

Real estate fraud in the city center was exposed in Odesa, photo: Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Law enforcement officers have exposed a fraudulent scheme for taking over communal property in Odesa, the organizer of the investigation is a deputy of the Odesa City Council.

This was reported in the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.

According to the investigation, the deputy, who was a member of the standing commission of the Odesa City Council on communal property, created a scheme of illegal enrichment by registering ownership rights to real estate that belonged to territorial communities directly or indirectly.

He involved a familiar lawyer and trustees in his plan. The accomplices sought communal premises on the first and second floors in the center of Odessa, rented them through controlled public organizations and enterprises, and then bought them without competitive bidding.

«After that, they increased the area of the already purchased premises at the expense of attics and basements, and on the basis of falsified documentation, they registered the ownership of fictitious persons,» the report says.

Real estate fraud in the city center was exposed in Odesa, photo: Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Real estate fraud in the city center was exposed in Odesa, photo: Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office

The police specified that the scheme had been operating since 2011. During this time, its members, according to the prosecutor's office, took possession of three real estate objects in the center of Odessa. The law enforcement officers estimated the damage to the territorial community at more than 10 million hryvnias.

The prosecutor's office reported that the co-organizer and two performers were remanded in custody with an alternative to bail.

With regard to the deputy-organizer, the issue of declaring a wanted person and granting the court permission to detain him in order to cause him to participate in the consideration of the petition for the application of a preventive measure in the form of detention is being resolved.

We will remind, in the Mykolaiv region, a resident of Koblevo was detained on charges of extorting money and threatening to kill.

Earlier we wrote that a law enforcement officer suspected of corruption was detained in Odesa region. The patrolman demanded a «reward» for unimpeded transportation of agricultural products by trucks.