Participant in high-profile land scam extradited from Germany to Ukraine

21 May 18:59

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The former head of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Kyiv region was extradited from Germany to Ukraine on May 21, 2025. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

The agency did not name the suspect. However, Ukrainian media report that it is Lyudmila Prikhodko.

She is suspected of involvement in a large-scale scheme to illegally seize more than 1,200 hectares of state land in the Kyiv region, particularly in the Fastiv and Pushcha-Vodytsia areas. The total value of these plots is estimated at over UAH 1.8 billion.

Since March 2024, Prykhodko has been on the international wanted list. In March 2025, she was detained in Germany, after which the German authorities granted Ukraine’s extradition request. The transfer of the suspect took place at the Krakowiec-Korczowa international automobile checkpoint.

Upon arrival in Ukraine, Prykhodko was taken to court, where she was imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with an alternative of bail in the amount of UAH 10 million.

The investigation found that the organizer of the scheme was the former deputy head of the Main Research and Design Institute of Land Management. He developed a mechanism for seizing agricultural land that was in permanent use by state-owned enterprises. For this purpose, accomplices were involved, who searched for ATO participants with the right to receive a land plot for free. In total, 12 people are involved in the case, including former officials of the StateGeoCadastre and other persons associated with the agency’s former management.

Detectives and prosecutors have established two episodes of criminal activity – the seizure of almost 920 hectares of state land of the State Enterprise “Dmytrivka ” in Fastiv and about 284 hectares of the State Enterprise “Pushcha-Vodytsia ” on the outskirts of Kyiv. The aggregate market value of these plots at the time of the crime was over UAH 1.8 billion.

on August 15, 2023, the NABU and the SAPO served 5 members of the organized group with a notice of suspicion:

the former deputy head of the State Enterprise “Main Research and Design Institute of Land Management” – the organizer of the scheme;
two former officials of the Main Department of the State Geocadastre in Kyiv region – executors of the crime (one of them is currently the head of one of the central executive bodies);
two individuals associated with the former management of the StateGeoCadastre – accomplices to the crime.

The organizer of the scheme is also suspected of seizing 2.24 hectares of forest on the shores of the Kyiv Sea.

All the misappropriated land plots were seized with a ban on development or change of their intended purpose. The investigation into the case has been completed, and the trial to bring the perpetrators to justice is currently underway.

What we know about Lyudmyla Prykhodko

Liudmyla Prykhodko has been working at the KNEU since 2003. In 2015, she became the first deputy head of the Main Department of the StateGeoCadastre in Kyiv region. In 2017, she became the Head of the Main Department of the StateGeoCadastre in Kyiv region.