Former Judge Tandyr Orchestrated a Scheme to Seize Apartments from the Deceased

Inside the Real Estate Fraud Operation

According to Главком: Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) has released new details about a real estate fraud ring involving former judge Oleksiy Tandyr. According to the investigation, a group that included Tandyr illegally acquired five apartments in Kyiv and Odesa, valued at over 7.6 million Ukrainian hryvnias in total. Six members of this criminal organization have now been officially notified of suspicion.

Tandyr, who previously served as head of the Makariv District Court in the Kyiv region, is already facing trial for his involvement in a traffic accident on May 26, 2023, at a checkpoint in Kyiv’s Sviatoshyn district. That crash killed National Guardsman Vadym Bondarenko, and Tandyr is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.

How the Criminal Network Operated

The masterminds behind the scheme were former judge Tandyr, his lawyer, and a former state enforcement officer. The group specifically targeted apartments that had belonged to deceased individuals. Investigators determined that the participants:

• identified vacant apartments;
• forged loan agreements worth millions of hryvnias between controlled individuals;
• filed lawsuits to recover nonexistent debts.

Tandyr then issued court rulings based on these fake documents, which legally validated the seizure of the properties.

The head of a state enforcement unit initiated the process of transferring property to the creditors, after which ownership was registered under front persons. The real estate was later resold to unsuspecting buyers. The investigation uncovered that the group had already appropriated five apartments: four in Kyiv on Mezhova, Chervonopilska, Stepan Oliinyk, and Heroiv Sevastopolia streets, and one in central Odesa worth over 1.8 million hryvnias. A sixth apartment in Kyiv, valued at 2 million hryvnias, was not transferred because a legal heir came forward.

The DBR disclosed the details of this deceased persons’ apartment scam involving ex-judge Tandyr, noting that the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office has already charged six members of the criminal organization with large-scale fraud and participation in a criminal enterprise.

This case highlights serious issues within Ukraine’s justice and real estate sectors, linked to fraud and corruption. Investigating such crimes is crucial for restoring public trust in the judicial system and protecting property owners’ rights.

As the investigation unfolds, the extent of the fraudulent activities orchestrated by Tandyr and his associates raises questions about the integrity of the judicial system. For a deeper understanding of how Tandyr and a state enforcement chief exploited the legal system to illegally seize properties from deceased owners in Kyiv and Odesa, read more about this alarming case here.