PGO plans to return 14 ha of forest in Bucha to state ownership from ownership of relative of ex first deputy speaker Kaletnyk

The Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv region has filed a claim for the return of 14 hectares of forest in Bucha worth over UAH 18 million to state ownership after infringements committed by the town council during the distribution of land plots were uncovered after a check at Irpen town court, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Tuesday.

"It was established that the town council transferred 14 hectares to the ownership of 141 citizens, which were sold to a relative of former first deputy speaker Ihor Kaletnyk," reads the report.

According to Ukrainian law, only the Ukrainian government has powers to take forestland, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

"Responding to the infringements revealed, the Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv region filed a claim at court in the interests of the state in the person of the Cabinet of Ministers against Bucha town council with the involvement of third parties – 141 individuals – on declaring invalid the decisions of the town council, the cancellation of the state registration of land and its return to the state," reads the report.

As reported, on June 16, 2014, the regulation committee of the Ukrainian parliament returned an application to strip former member of the Party of Regions faction Volodymyr Oliynyk and Communist Party MP Ihor Kaletnyk of their immunity from criminal prosecution.

Earlier the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office asked the Verkhovna Rada to strip Oliynyk and Kaletnyk of their immunity from criminal prosecution.