In Dnipro, the Security Service and the State Bureau of Investigations shut down a raider scheme for seizing private real estate.

The law enforcement agencies have exposed a district court judge suspected of illegal seizure of a local resident’s apartment.

To carry out the fraud, he first rented the flat in downtown Dnipro and for six months did not pay for living there.

Under false pretenses, the judge did not allow the owner to enter the apartment; she tried to meet with him and find out the reasons for not paying the rent.

The official then forged documents in which he added that he ‘had bought the apartment from the victim for UAH 412,000’.

The judge filed a civil lawsuit to recognize the agreement as valid. He ‘supported’ it with a fake receipt from the owner about the alleged funds she had received for the sale.

As the investigation revealed, the court issued a decision in absentia, which satisfied the official’s claims and recognized his ownership of the property.

During the searches at the suspect’s home and workplace, the investigators found computers, mobile phones, records and documents with evidence of the fraud.

The judge has been notified of suspicion under two Articles of the CCU:

• 190.5 (fraud, committed on a large scale);
• 384.2 (misleading a court or other authorized body, for mercenary purposes).

The investigation is ongoing to return the property to its rightful owner. The suspect faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The investigation is carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.