Under the procedural guidance of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Prosecutor General, former leaders of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in the Poltava region, the former head of the Kharkivets Village Council, and the head of the Pyriatyn City Council have been notified of suspicion.

According to the investigation, from 2017 to 2020, the suspects illegally seized state-owned lands that were in permanent use by the National Nature Park "Pyriatynskyi." In particular, they transferred 95 plots of land with a total area of 100 hectares into private ownership of citizens, allegedly for personal farming.

In reality, these plots were leased to a farming enterprise, whose head was the former village head—the same person who illegally approved the land allocation.

The state has suffered damages amounting to 6.8 million UAH.

It is worth noting that in order to return the lands of the nature reserve fund to the state, specialized environmental prosecutors have filed 95 lawsuits in court. To date, 9 decisions have been made in favor of the state, which annulled the illegal rights of private ownership and terminated the use of lands with a total area of about 10 hectares.

The necessity of filing lawsuits was due to the inaction of the authorities responsible for the preservation and protection of the lands of the nature reserve fund. The prosecutor's office has taken on the function of effectively restoring the violated interests of the state.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigative Department of the State Bureau of Investigation with operational support from the National Police of Ukraine.

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 court verdict.