things just got a little more strange in the city of shady land deals the kyiv prosecutor’s office on march 31 launched a criminal investigation after the disappearance of records involving the privatization of property in the capital. the documents could shed light on what critics call “land scams” — the sale of valuable municipal property to insiders at cut-rate prices. opponents charge that the administration of kyiv mayor leonid chernovetsky has cheated taxpayers out of almost usd 2 billion in the last four years through non-transparent and non-competitive transactions.