Volyn Regional Council official to be tried for bribes for emission permits

Volyn Regional Council official to be tried for bribes for emission permits shutterstock
Katerina Belousova

The total amount of received bribes reaches 51 thousand hryvnias

In Volyn, prosecutors have sent to court an indictment in a criminal case against the head of a department of the Volyn Regional Military Administration, who demanded and received bribes three times for issuing air emission permits.

He was detained in October 2023 while receiving the last tranche of a 19,000 UAH bribe, the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office reports on Facebook.

Although the post does not identify the official, media reports suggest that it is Valentyn Kukharyk, head of the regional department of ecology and natural resources.

According to the investigation, during August-October 2023, the official received bribes three times from an entrepreneur who develops documents for companies to obtain permits for emissions of pollutants into the air. He received the illegal benefit for approving such permits. The total amount of bribes received reaches UAH 51 thousand.

It is noted that the pre-trial investigation was conducted by the police together with specialists from the Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of Strategic Investigations.

Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in Volyn, law enforcement officers detained the head of one of the offices of the Volyn Regional Military Administration while receiving the last tranche of a bribe of 19,000 hryvnias for issuing a permit to emit pollutants into the atmosphere.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, the director of the Southern Forest Office of the state-owned enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" and his assistants will be tried for theft of 15 million hryvnias from the state during his leadership at the Kamin-Kashirsky Agroforestry Farm in Volyn.

Related
The son of the former chief forester of Volyn is on trial for felling over a thousand trees
The son of the former chief forester of Volyn is on trial for felling over a thousand trees

An organised gang falsified documents and covered up the traces of the crime

A branch of ‘Forests of Ukraine’ used a recommendation from its director to award 45 million hryvnias to a new sole trader
A branch of ‘Forests of Ukraine’ used a recommendation from its director to award 45 million hryvnias to a new sole trader

The sole trader signed their first contract with a state-owned enterprise just a few days after setting up their business

A former district administrator from Zakarpattia ‘forgot’ to declare houses, businesses and cars worth nearly 10 million hryvnias
A former district administrator from Zakarpattia ‘forgot’ to declare houses, businesses and cars worth nearly 10 million hryvnias

We’re talking about a car repair workshop, a café and even a house built right on the forestry commission’s land