The head of the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” Yuriy Bolokhovets has set up a private farm of more than 80 hectares in the forests near the village of Ivangorod in Chernihiv region.
These are the findings of an investigation by NGL.Media.
The journalists studied the case files involving the CEO of the Forests of Ukraine and also visited the site directly in Ivangorod. They claim that Bolokhovets, together with his business partner Mykhailo Reva, has been building a private estate with lakes, stables, and vacation homes here for years.
“At the same time, the estate is not registered to any of them, but is registered in parts to relatives and friends,” the investigators say.
According to their information, Yuriy Bolokhovets himself, his wife, and his family's business partners come from this village.
NGL.Media claims that more than 90% of the estate's area is simply seized territories of state and communal forests, fenced with a solid fence. They consist of 14 privatized land plots, and they seize a part of the communal forest, as well as the area used by the Bolokhovets-led State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” – on the territory subordinated to the State Enterprise “Ichniarayagrolisnytstvo”.
Source: NGL.media.
According to the journalists, in order to legalize the seizure of a part of the forest, the Chernihiv OVA even allowed a children's camp to be placed there.
"And the managers of the forest farms do not see anything suspicious in the fact that the forests have turned into a part of a private estate with an area of more than 80 hectares – probably because the estate has a connection with the main forester of the country", – state the authors of the investigation.
Criminal case
According to the journalists, in November 2023, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) opened criminal proceedings immediately under 4 articles related to land grabbing and illegal enrichment. SBI investigators suspected , that Yuriy Bolokhovets receives unofficial income, which he invests in real estate, in particular, in his native village of Ivangorod. Yes, yes data tax inspection, in 4 years the family of the general director of "Forests of Ukraine" acquired assets worth UAH 22.8 million with an official income of UAH 10.4 million.
"Investigators of the SBI consider , that the management of both communal and state forest farms deliberately ignore violations and facilitate the legalization of forest capture. And the transfer of the plot to the use of "Sparta" [a children's sports and educational club – ed.] looks like an attempt to legalize the arbitrary seizure of the forest," says NGL.Media.
To the journalist's question, Bolokhovets replied that he did not know anything about the criminal proceedings regarding the seizure of land plots that are used by the State Enterprise "Ichnyaragrolisnytto" and the State Enterprise "Lisy Ukrainy". According to him, representatives of law enforcement bodies did not contact him or his family members on this matter. The official ignored most of NGL.media's questions, the publication says.
System problem
According to the expert Petr Testov, who has been engaged in forest protection for many years, there is a relatively legal scheme for obtaining state forest leases in Ukraine.
"It is called "long-term temporary use". This "someone" submits an application to the regional state administration – and there they decide "okay, you have a forest for 20-49 years", – says the expert.
Testov claims that under this scheme, the owners received land for the construction of the Emily Resort in Vynnyky near Lviv, as well as "a bunch of hotels in Bukovel."
In June 2024, the BlackBox OSINT project published on its website the results of an investigation into the illicit enrichment of Yuriy Bolokhivets and his family. The authors claimed that the CEO of Forests of Ukraine led illegal logging and corruption in the industry.
The other day, EcoPolitic wrote that the ARMA accused the office of the Forests of Ukraine of fraud for UAH 224 million, and also cited the foresters' response to this.
