The SBU exposed a large-scale mechanism of illegal allocation of state lands to private ownership. The scam was organized by CEOs of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre in Zakarpattia region.

The SBU established that an organizer of the scam was a former acting head of the StateGeocadastre Main Department. He involved a newly appointed manager and several division heads. The offenders transferred agricultural land plots near the city of Uzhhorod to private ownership and entered false data into the State Land Cadastre. Customers received forest lands under the guise of agricultural plots.

SBU officers documented that in 2020, the acting head of the StateGeocadastre Main Department, in particular, permitted to develop a land management project for transfer of the ownership of 26 plots with a total area of ​​almost 54 hectares. According to findings, the lands were subject to transfer to communal ownership of a united territorial community.

Within criminal proceedings, suspicion notices were served to a head of the regional StateGeocadastre, a former acting Head of the Main Department, a division head for abuse of office and to an engineer-land surveyor for forgery of documents.

The investigation is ongoing to establish all circumstances of the offence and prosecute all involved individuals.

The operation was conducted by the SBU Office in the Zakarpattia region in cooperation with the National Police Main Office in Zakarpattia region under the supervision of the Zakarpattia Region Prosecutor's Office.