The First Deputy Head of the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office, Andrii Baidak, handed over the indictment to the former head of the village council, who is accused of illegally seizing community lands.

The former official is charged with abuse of power or official position (Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), official forgery (Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), use of knowingly forged documents (Part 4 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and legalization of property obtained by criminal means (Part 1 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

It has been established that from 2015 to 2020, the former official created knowingly false documents regarding the issuance of permits for the development of land management projects and the transfer of plots into ownership. As a result, the right to own 38 agricultural land plots with a total area of over 29 hectares was illegally acquired.

The value of these lands, according to expert conclusions, exceeds 8 million UAH.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by detectives of the territorial department of the Bureau of Economic Security in the Vinnytsia region.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is considered innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict.