Regular Kyivans, including pensioners, have unexpectedly found themselves used in massive land scams allegedly involving Mayor Leonid Chervonetsky.
Regular Kyivans, including pensioners, have unexpectedly found themselves used in massive land scams allegedly involving Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky. Accused by Kyiv City Administration Chief Oleksandr Popov of costing the city $9 billion through fraud and embezzlement, authorities are adding new details to how the alleged scams were carried out.
Chernovetsky’s administration is suspected of using the personal information of supporters in an attempt to camouflage the transactions.
Popov, with the blessing from President Viktor Yanukovych, last year sidelined Chernovetsky from running the city.
The Kyiv Post obtained a document from the prosecutor’s office, addressed to the Kyiv City Council, that describes how ordinary people were used in allegedly criminal land deals.
Their “ownership” of the land turned out to be temporary, with the parcels later transferred to the true beneficiaries of the schemes, authorities said.
For instance, on Sept. 17, 2009, the city council issued land parcels to 10 Kyivans on Sadovyj and Sosnyvyi alleys in Kyiv. Several months later, all are recorded as having sold their parcels to a Kyivan named Yakiv Bass.
As it turned out, the prosecutor’s investigation learned that people did not even know that they were given parcels and, obviously, had no idea they sold it. According to Kyiv Post sources in the city administration, Bass is the father of former deputy mayor Denys Bass, a close ally of Chernovetsky.
The Kyiv Post was unable to reach Denys Bass for comment. His former spokesperson, Oleksandra Zhurakhovskaya, said he does not speak to the press. Chernovetsky’s spokesperson declined to comment. Bass resigned from his post in 2010 after Popov was appointed to head the city administration.
Meanwhile, when asked why they supported a decision that turned out to be illegal, members of city council said everything looked right on paper.
It appears that unsuspecting citizens’ signatures were forged and their passport information stolen.
We never had any land and never asked for it. Me and my family, we all have lived in our apartment since 1948 or 1950.”
– Oleksandra Zhezlova, pensioner.
An 84-year-old pensioner, Oleksandra Zhezlova, learned from the Kyiv Post that she and her daughter-in-law Vira Zhezlova had two land plots each in Kyiv. Their names are mentioned in the document, among eight others.
“We never had any land and never asked for it. Me and my family, we all have lived in our apartment since 1948 or 1950,” said Oleksandra Zhezlova.
Zhezlova suspects that city authorities got the personal information when she applied for financial assistance.
The suspicion is that whoever perpetrated the land scheme was looking to place title to the land in the hands of unsuspecting citizens, who then would “transfer” the property over to the real beneficiaries.
Other “landowners” either never heard of being given any land or had applied for it years ago, but were refused. According to the Ukrainian land code, every citizen has the right to obtain 100 square meters of land in the city where he or she is registered in.
“While some members might have been unaware of the criminal scheme, I am sure most of them knew everything about it, but still supported it,” said Natalia Novak, deputy head of the Vitaliy Klitschko minority faction in city council.
People who were responsible for land issues – former head of land commission at city council Oleksiy Evlakh and former head of land department at city council Svitlana Makeyeva — are detained and both face charges.
While some members might have been unaware of the criminal scheme, I am sure most of them knew everything about it, but still supported it.”
– Natalia Novak, deputy head of the Vitaliy Klitschko minority faction.
Apart from issuing plots of land to the people who did not ask for it or were unaware of it, other illegal schemes were used. One of them involved opening empty cadastre files and voting on transactions involving these cases in city council. Documentation of land transactions then later were added to the file.
Often members of the city council brought in land clauses to the council’s order of the day without all necessary commissions and inspections. For example, Oleksiy Evlakh used this scenario on Oct. 1, 2007 and bought 18 plots of the land at once.
The city prosecutor is investigating hundreds of such land cases, some are already in court. However, it is unclear if any high level city officials will face charges.
Meanwhile, while Chernovetsky admits “many mistakes” and acknowledges corruption in Kyiv, he told Korrespondent magazine in a recent interview that “exactly the same violations happen now under Popov. But I will not accuse Popov and his administration, because the uprooting of corruption has to start with right laws.”
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Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].
