In the Odessa region, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation have uncovered a large-scale fraudulent scheme to appropriate the apartments of deceased people who had no heirs. A judge of one of the region's district courts played a key role in it, who actually legalized all the property for the scammers. The SBI reports this.
The organizers of the illegal scheme were a couple of local restaurateurs. Through acquaintances, they received information about apartments whose owners had died and there were no claimants for the inheritance. As soon as such objects appeared, the fraudsters drew up fictitious purchase and sale agreements - retroactively, without notarization and with the participation of proxy persons. After that, they filed lawsuits in court to recognize the right of ownership.
To legalize the criminal scheme, the restaurateurs involved a judge who, despite obvious violations, satisfied the claims. He was not bothered by the falsified documents, the absence of the parties at the hearings, or the absence of circumstances that should have been established in the civil process. Based on these decisions, the apartments were registered in the State Real Estate Register.
In this way, the fraudulent group managed to re-register three apartments with a total value of almost 3 million UAH. Currently, the objects have been seized to prevent their further alienation.
The judge has already been dismissed from his position by a decision of the High Council of Justice. He was notified of suspicions under several articles at once: issuance of a knowingly false official document and aiding and abetting the appropriation of another's property by deception, committed by an organized group on a particularly large scale.
The organizers, a couple of restaurateurs, are suspected of fraud, forgery of documents, and money laundering. Moreover, they are already accused in another criminal case regarding the appropriation of six apartments.
The issue of imposing preventive measures on all those involved is currently being decided. The sanctions of the incriminated articles provide for up to 8 years of imprisonment.
