Prosecutors of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Prosecutor's Office have sent an indictment to the court regarding five participants of an organized group for fraud, document forgery, and legalization of income obtained through criminal means (part 4 of Article 190, Article 28, parts 3 and 4 of Article 358, part 2 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The pre-trial investigation established that the organizer of the criminal group – a lawyer – involved a realtor and three acquaintances in illegal activities. They searched for apartments of deceased owners in Zaporizhzhia and, using forged documents, registered ownership rights in the names of fictitious persons. Afterwards, they sold the real estate to unsuspecting buyers.

In this way, the group members illegally acquired 7 apartments that were subject to inheritance or transfer to communal ownership.

Their actions caused over 4.5 million UAH in damages to the residents and the territorial community of the city of Zaporizhzhia.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Zaporizhzhia region with operational support from the Strategic Investigations Department in the Zaporizhzhia region of the National Police of Ukraine.

As previously reported, this lawyer is also suspected of unlawfully acquiring other real estate after the death of its owners in collusion with a law enforcement officer.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict.