A million-dollar housing scam was turned around: The National Police exposed the participants of a criminal organization (VIDEO)
Among the suspects are lawyers, notaries, the state registrar and civilians. The victims are borrowers of a bankrupt bank. The defendants illegally re-registered 16 apartments of Kiev residents to their relatives. Employees of the Department of Strategic Investigations and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police exposed the transaction with real estate.
Operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police carry out comprehensive measures to expose criminal schemes for the seizure of property of the least protected categories of persons, including notaries and lawyers. According to the results of the multi-stage implementation, the police established the participants of the criminal organization who illegally took over the apartments of citizens.
According to the investigation, the victims took loans from a financial institution to purchase apartments. To reverse the criminal scheme, the scammers registered a commercial structure. In the process of liquidating the bank, the company bought up the balances under the loan agreements and had to notify citizens about this, as well as about the new schedules and repayment terms of the loan.
However, instead, within a few days from the date of acquisition of the right of claim under loan agreements, the apartments were re-registered to relatives.
In order to create the appearance that the victims were notified in a legal way, the defendants made fictitious postal documents. Some citizens received letters in which they were offered to pay 1.5 million hryvnias instead of the remaining debt of 200 thousand hryvnias.
To speed up the process of seizing property, the participants of the criminal organization tried to forcibly evict the real owners of the apartments. They waited for them to leave the apartment or, in their absence, broke into the house and changed the locks. In addition, so-called tenants were resettled.
The head of the commercial structure was involved in the criminal scheme - a lawyer, seven notaries, the state registrar, a private executor and civilians on whom housing was re-registered. In total, dealers illegally seized 16 apartments of Kiev residents for a total amount of more than a million dollars.
Among the victims are the military, the elderly and minors.
Operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations and investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine together with the Office of the Prosecutor General detained the organizer of the criminal scheme. Based on the collected evidence, the leader and 12 members of the criminal organization were informed of suspicion under seven articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Art. 255 (Creation, leadership of a criminal community or criminal organization, as well as participation in it);
- Art. 191 (Possession, squandering of property or taking possession of it by abuse of official position)
- Art. 365-2 (Abuse of authority by persons providing public services);
- Article 190 (fraud);
- Art. 162 (Violation of the integrity of housing);
- Article 361 (unauthorized interference in the operation of electronic computers (computers), automated systems, computer networks or telecommunication networks);
- Part 3 of Art. 209 (Legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means).
The leader of the group and one of his members, who ensured the forcible seizure of real estate, were taken into custody, the others were given cash bail and house arrest.
National Police of Ukraine
