Access denied: MPs try to hide real estate under the guise of national security

“Judges’ villas” will disappear — not because they’ve been demolished, but because they’ll be registered under some “company.” On June 19, MPs will vote in the first reading of Draft Law No. 11533. Under the banner of “national security,” they seek to significantly restrict access to information about real estate owned by legal entities.

Sounds abstract? Imagine this: a journalist compares the income and property of a prosecutor suspected of corruption. Previously, the prosecutor would register property in his grandmother’s name, and that was relatively easy to track. But now, the grandmother transfers a 250 sq.m. “garden house” into the statutory capital of a company for a nominal UAH 10,000. In the legal entities register, the journalist would only see the region and district of the potentially illicit property — no exact address, no cadastral number. That means there’s no way to visit the site, see whether the “garden house” is actually a rural shack or a villa with a pool, or check whether the prosecutor sleeps there. That’s exactly what the draft law proposes. In effect, legalised concealment allows not only defence companies but also officials’ mansions to be hidden from view.

During committee discussions, MPs partly responded to criticism and removed the most absurd provisions, such as plans to hide private individuals’ real estate. However, the draft still includes excessive restrictions concerning property owned by legal entities. For example:

• The exact address of a property will be removed — only the region, district, and city will remain

• The cadastral number of a land plot will no longer be available

Even the draft’s author, Ihor Fris, has started blaming “miscommunication” and “misunderstanding” after public backlash. But, as the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office reminds us, the issue is not one of communication — it’s the substance. The draft law goes far beyond protecting national security and impacts the real estate of all legal entities.

At DEJURE, we welcome the removal of the most dangerous provisions. But it’s not enough. The draft law must be revised. We urge MPs to:

• Limit concealment only to truly sensitive information related to defence enterprises

• Avoid restricting access to property data of legal entities with no connection to the defence sector