Tymoshenko declares war on land mafia

Ukrainians refer to land allocation officials as mafia. We will change this and stop the abuse of power and corruption by officials, she assured.

With 15.5 million Ukrainians entitled to receive their land plots, 12.4 million have already privatized their land. But only 6 million of these received land titles, Tymoshenko noted. “Those who have received the titles can be called heroes of Ukraine as they cleared all red-tape hurdles,” the premier observed.

Ukrainians have paid almost hryvnia 10 billion in dues for their land titles, another 13 billion for the services of shady intermediaries. Of the 6.4 million still without land titles almost 5 million are advanced age Ukrainians residing in the country areas.

]“On behalf of the previous regime [of Viktor Yanukovych] that claims to have had an excellent track record and cherishes dreams of staging a comeback, I would like to apologize to those who received their land titles at mind-blowing prices as well as to those who stood no chance to receive them at all,” Tymoshenko ended.