Case description
The NABU and the SAPO accused Yurii Kozak, former Head of the Main Department of State Geocadastre in the Vinnytsia region, of forging documents, which resulted in the illegal transfer of particularly valuable land plots to private ownership without the required procedure.
According to the investigation, in 2016–2017, Yurii Kozak, acting in collusion with Oleksandr Bortnovskyi, then acting director of the Bokhonytske Experimental Farm of the Research Center under the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, transferred 10 plots of land totaling 17 hectares and worth over UAH 11.5 million into private ownership without the required Cabinet of Ministers’ approval.
These lands, classified as especially valuable, were permanently assigned to Bokhonytske Experimental Farm for scientific research purposes. Despite knowing that special procedures applied to terminating the right to use these valuable lands, Oleksandr Bortnovskyi and Yurii Kozak embezzled part of the land through illegal transfer of ownership. To justify the scheme, they claimed the plots were being distributed to NAAS employees and ATO participants for private gardening and farming.
This was allegedly due to the fact that these lands are not particularly valuable and are not used for research purposes. However, investigators found that none of the supposed recipients received anything, and at the time, only one of them actually worked at Bokhonytske Experimental Farm.
Acting in the interests of third parties, Yurii Kozak, in collusion with Oleksandr Bortnovskyi, embezzled more than 17 hectares of particularly valuable land of Bokhonytske Experimental Farm by illegally transferring it to private ownership. These are 10 land plots, the market value of which at the time of formation was more than UAH 11.5 million.
Yurii Kozak, while serving as the head of the Main Department of Geocadastre in the Vinnytsia region, to conceal the fact of embezzlement of particularly valuable land of the state enterprise Bokhonytske Experimental Farm, committed official forgery. After that, he ordered subordinates (who have not yet been identified) to destroy an electronic annex to an official document and replace it with two new ones containing false information.
The defense argued that Bokhonytske Experimental Farm was not a scientific institution, and its land did not qualify as especially valuable. And allegedly, this is why the prosecution mistakenly classified this state- owned enterprise as a research institution, and the land that was used by the latter as particularly valuable. The defense further claimed that Kozak had no authority over the plots in question and could not be held responsible for their transfer.
The actions of Yurii Kozak and Oleksandr Bortnovskyi were qualified under Article 191(5) and Article 366(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Bortnovskyi died in 2021. His mother submitted a request for posthumous rehabilitation. The prosecutor asked the court to close the case against him due to his death. In 2020, Kozak ran for the Vinnytsia Regional Council but was not elected. He is currently employed by a charitable organization.
The HACC sentenced Kozak to 8 years in prison with disqualification from holding public service positions and full confiscation of his assets for the embezzlement charge. For document forgery, he was fined UAH 4,250 and barred from holding public office for one year; however, this latter penalty was waived due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. As for the land plots that were unlawfully transferred into private ownership, the HACC ordered their special confiscation.
The proceedings against Bortnovskyi will be closed due to his death.
