Unraveling the Ihor Mazepa case: political target or land scammer?

On the evening of January 18, businessman Ihor Mazepa, owner of Concorde Capital, was detained at the border of Ukraine and Poland. According to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), which is conducting a pre-trial investigation, Mazepa built cottages on the land plots of the Kyiv HPP, which poses a threat to the functioning of Kyiv's critical infrastructure.

"The plots on which hydrotechnical structures are located – and you and I understand this very well – are critical infrastructure of the capital. Currently we are talking seven hectares of land. They have been re-registered with straw figures in order to build cottage towns on them," said SBI communications advisor Tetiana Sapyan on the national telethon.

Mazepa's actions were qualified under articles 255 (criminal organization), 233 (illegal privatization), 209 (legalization of property) of the Criminal Code. He was confined to custody with the possibility of posting a bail of 329 million hryvnias ($8.8 million), although they initially asked for 700 million hryvnias ($18.7 million).