Officials from the Kyiv region were exposed in a large-scale peat extraction scheme

Officials from the Kyiv region were exposed in a large-scale peat extraction scheme

Katerina Belousova

The perpetrators sold 1,800 tons of covering mixture made from peat

Deputies of one of the local councils of the Kyiv region and three of her accomplices were informed of the suspicion of illegal extraction of peat for 2.2 million hryvnias and laundering of these funds.

Peat was mined under the guise of cleaning the channel beds of the reclamation system in Chernihiv Oblast, reports Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.

According to the investigation, the deputy and director of the enterprise, together with its founder and two acquaintances, organized illegal peat extraction. The suspect also organized the processing of peat and sold it, concluding contracts with entrepreneurs in the real sector of the economy.

It is noted that the scheme worked from October 2022 to March 2023. During this time, the perpetrators sold 1,800 tons of covering mixture made of peat.

"At the moment, the question of choosing precautionary measures for the suspect is being resolved," the press service said.

Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in the Kyiv region, the prosecutor's office submitted to the court an indictment against a resident of the Buchan district for illegal extraction of 240 m3 of sand.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, four former general directors of the state-owned enterprise "Volynvugillia" will be tried in Volyn, under whose leadership losses from illegal mining of minerals reached 1.17 billion hryvnias. From 2018 to 2022, the company mined 132,400 tons of coal without a special permit.

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