The prolonged struggle for the building on Akademika Lazarenka Street in Lviv, involved in the so-called «Scam of the Century,» has been concluded by the decision of the Frankivsk District Court. The court revoked the state registration of ownership rights to the building, which belonged to Irina Malkova. This information became known from the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.
Background
According to Halyna Payonkevych, the head of the legal department of the Lviv City Council, it concerns a single building with an area of 1020.2 m² on Akademika Lazarenka Street, 31. In 2016, the private enterprise «Avtolyux-Service» registered ownership rights to it based on a non-existent order from the Halych District Administration, and the building was divided into four uneven parts.
In January 2018, the Frankivsk District Court initiated criminal proceedings, and on the appellate level on December 8, 2022, the complaint of the Lviv City Council was satisfied, and the registration of ownership rights was cancelled.
On the same day, December 8, 2022, ownership rights were registered to Irina Malkova. As indicated in the State Register of Rights to Immovable Property, this was done based on the recovery for the payment of debt. However, two months later, the Frankivsk Court of Lviv reopened proceedings on this building.
Therefore, the legal proceedings lasted for six years, until March 2024, when the registration was again cancelled. However, the decision can still be appealed in the appellate procedure.
The «Scam of the Century»
In the fall of 2016, the Department of Municipal Property of the Lviv City Council found that dozens of municipal premises in Lviv were re-registered to private entrepreneurs. On this occasion, law enforcement agencies initiated criminal proceedings, arrested 24 premises, and conducted searches at the City Hall. The media called this scam the «Scam of the Century.» Some of the premises were successfully returned to the city’s ownership. The alienation of property occurred due to a fraudulent scheme, which, according to preliminary data, was carried out by Lviv residents Irina Sandul, Lyudmila Malkova, and Oleg Rogotsky. However, Irina Malkova, the former head of the LLC «Stone OK,» on which some of the premises were registered, was also involved, as she was engaged to the Malkov family.
