How Billions in State Land Are Stolen: 'Toilet' Schemes

How does state land end up in the hands of developers? Why have hectares of expensive Kyiv land been transferred for years without open auctions, with the state losing tens of billions of hryvnias? In this video, we break down the most high-profile land schemes of recent years — from NABU's "Clean City" case and the activities of Denys Komarnytskyi to the development of land belonging to the state enterprise "Pushcha-Vodytsia," the National Academy of Sciences, and other state institutions.

We'll show how the so-called "toilet schemes" work, where a small structure or even a fictitious real estate object becomes the grounds for obtaining large land plots without competition or land auctions. We'll examine how developers gained access to state land through investment agreements, while communities and the budget were left with only a small fraction of the assets' real value.

We'll also discuss notable examples involving the land of the state enterprise "Pushcha-Vodytsia," where large-scale residential complexes were built, as well as the development of land belonging to the National Academy of Sciences and other state structures. Drawing on materials from NABU, SAPO, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Accounting Chamber, the State Audit Service, and journalistic investigations, we'll show how legislative loopholes turned state land into a source of superprofits for a narrow circle of individuals and facilitated the plunder of land.

But this video isn't just about corruption. We'll also examine which specific legislative provisions allowed such schemes to be carried out, why they worked for years, and what changes are being proposed to close off opportunities for land plunder in the future. Draft laws No. 14038 and No. 14039 are meant to change the rules of the game, introduce transparent mechanisms for using state land, and make it impossible to obtain valuable plots through fictitious buildings or opaque investment agreements.