The former forester of the Tykhovets Forestry in Zakarpattia Oblast has been charged in absentia with making false declarations of assets. The man omitted details of assets belonging to his family, as well as a house that mysteriously appeared on the forestry’s premises whilst he was in charge.
This was reported by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC).
Omissions in the declaration
When submitting his 2024 declaration for verification, the former official failed to declare several valuable items of movable and immovable property. Specifically, the former forester concealed the following assets in the village of Krasne:
- a plot of land measuring 900 m². On this site, he built a car service centre and continued to use the land for business purposes;
- a plot measuring 1,250 m². A completed house is situated here, which has not yet been duly registered. The land has been prudently registered in the name of his father-in-law, whilst his wife is the occupier of the property;
- a building with an area of 94.9 m². There, the former forester’s wife runs her own café and continues to operate the business;
- a house with an area of 65.9 m². The former official actually lived there with his family, but ‘forgot’ to include it in his declaration. The property is registered in the name of the forestry official’s father. However, it is worth noting an important detail — the building was constructed on the territory of the Tykhovets Forestry. The very same one that, at the time of construction, was managed by the owner’s dutiful son.
The declaration also omits information about cars belonging to the official’s relatives. These include a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (2010) owned by his wife, and a Toyota Hilux (2016) registered in his mother’s name.
Law enforcement agencies are investigating this case under Part 2 of Article 366-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — the declaration of false information.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported on a ‘ghost employee’ scheme being used by the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’. Branches of the state-owned enterprise have entered into contracts for basic forestry work with dubious contractors. State auditors are unable to verify whether the work has been carried out, as the firms do not exist at their registered addresses. Some have even managed to plant millions of trees without having a single employee on their staff.
