In the Kharkiv region, a large-scale corruption scheme in the field of real estate registration was exposed, which operated for years and allowed artificially increasing the area of objects and changing their purpose without any permits.
According to the investigation, in Pisochyn, an unfinished building with an area of over 500 square meters was registered as a completed house in the registers, and later its area was increased to 728 square meters. In Kharkiv, on Kandaurova Street, an apartment with an area of 26.5 square meters became a three-room apartment with an area of 75 square meters in the documents. On Kharkiv Highway, a dormitory of almost 6 thousand square meters was converted into a residential building with dozens of apartments.
The scheme is led by lawyer Valentyn Melnyk, using connections in the Ministry of Justice. The conspiracy involves high-ranking officials of the department: Vyacheslav Khardikov, Iryna Svystun, and Dmytro Volyk, head of the notary department in the Kharkiv region and Melnyk's godfather. The registrars work under his control, formally at local councils, but in fact in an office at 96 Sumska Street.
Serhiy Zotkin, Oleg Zhbadynskyi, Igor Teslenko, and Iryna Romanyuk are also involved in the operations of forging registers. They make changes to the registers, legalizing the increase in area or changing the purpose of objects.
Despite dozens of complaints and court decisions that obliged the State Bureau of Investigation, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the State Anti-Corruption Bureau to open proceedings, some actions remain unimplemented, indicating sabotage by law enforcement agencies. Justice Minister Galushchenko is still ignoring the revelations, effectively covering up the scheme.
