Agrarian Policy Minister announces NSDC sanctions against land scammers

The sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) will be imposed against people involved in land fraud, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko said at the Ukraine 30. Land forum on Monday.

"Sanctions will be imposed through the NSDC sanctions mechanism, and through the appropriate preparation of all materials that are related to people who were engaged in land fraud, abused the right and accumulated huge land plots," he said.

"We must suspend all processes of unfair use, seizure and resale of land," the Agrarian Policy Minister said.

Leshchenko said that all branches of the law enforcement system are involved in resolving issues of illegal land acquisitions.

"We are ready to provide all the necessary information to establish justice. The theft of land has no statute of limitations," the minister said.

In his speech, as an example of the formation by a legal entity of a fairly large area of land plots through land plots of private farms under a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land, he cited the Svitanok agricultural company owned by former MP and wife of the former head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Tetiana Zasukha. According to the minister, this land bank consists of 461 plots on 419 hectares near Fastiv (Kyiv region).

"[The land area], which can be absolutely freely bought, sold, and which is absolutely in the legal turnover, because during 20 years of the formation of land policy, officials have formed mechanisms when millions of Ukrainians do not have the right to dispose of their land, but it is possible to obtain 2 hectares through free privatization and to form land tracts. There are thousands of such tracts in Ukraine," Leshchenko said.

According to him, there are landowners in Ukraine with dozens of thousands of hectares.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua