The Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 11533, which restricts access to real estate data - one of the key tools for journalists in exposing corruption.
The bill, for the duration of martial law and a year after its termination, restricts access to data on the locations of real estate objects, as well as to the cadastral numbers of land plots belonging to any legal entities.
These provisions will significantly complicate the work of journalists in identifying real estate fraud, particularly corruption-related ones.
The bill will also affect ordinary citizens. If you happen to decide to buy real estate from a construction company, it will be difficult to verify before the purchase whether it truly belongs to such a legal entity.
However, this law will make life easier for corrupt officials in concealing their assets through the firms they control and may increase the number of frauds in the real estate sphere.
The author of the bill is Ihor Fris, a deputy from the Servant of the People party. Interestingly, journalists from BIHUS.Info found numerous properties registered under the names of Fris’s relatives.
Soon we will find out who exactly voted for this bill. We are confident that there will be deputies who are involved in anti-corruption investigations.