Judge Tandyr issues rulings to seize apartments of deceased in Kyiv and Odesa regions – SBI
Former head of Makariv district court of Kyiv region Oleksiy Tandyr, who fatally struck a National Guard soldier at a checkpoint in 2023, a lawyer and a former state enforcement officer organized a scheme to seize apartments of deceased persons in Kyiv and Odesa regions.
The State Bureau of Investigations website said Monday that a scheme to seize apartments of deceased persons involving the former Makariv judge who struck a serviceman at a Kyiv checkpoint in May 2023 was exposed late last week.
According to the agency, the scheme operated during 2021-2023. "The perpetrators carefully prepared for the crime, working out interaction mechanisms and implementation methods. As a result, within a short period of time they managed to seize five apartments in Odesa and Kyiv communities," the message reads.
The bureau also reported the suspects’ intention to seize another apartment, but its owners turned out to have an heir and the criminal plan fell through.
The SBI clarified that the group’s main scheme involved finding an apartment whose owner had died without leaving an heir. The suspects would then draw up a fictitious sale and purchase agreement for the property and transfer ownership to trusted persons through fictitious court rulings.
"The investigation established that the judge who later caused the road accident, his lawyer and a former state enforcement officer were the mastermind of the group," the message says.
To allow the judge to issue a formal ruling in the interests of the organized criminal group, two more accomplices would file civil claims for the alleged recovery of million-hryvnia debts for previously borrowed money. "However, the borrower was settling with the creditor using apartments that had already been taken from their deceased owners," the SBI said.
According to the investigation, scheme participants created fictitious debts between controlled persons, filed forged lawsuits, obtained rulings on recovery of non-existent debts, used the enforcement service to seize apartments, registered ownership of others’ property, and then sold the apartments to third parties.
The statement stressed: "The former judge of Makariv court issued rulings on the basis of knowingly forged documents and effectively helped legalize the illegal seizure of real estate."
The SBI does not name the judge. Based on the circumstances of the road accident case, the reference is to Tandyr.
Five suspects have currently been served with suspicion notices for participation in a criminal organization, as well as the judge who was one of the scheme’s organizers. Preventive measures have been selected for all.
The judge will be held in custody without the alternative of posting bail.
"In effect, the tragic road accident at a Kyiv checkpoint in May 2023 and the former judge’s subsequent coming to the attention of law enforcement made it possible to stop the cynical scheme of illegally seizing apartments of deceased citizens," the SBI noted.
