The head and three members of the organized criminal group, who held positions in the SE "Kut Forestry" and since 2018 were engaged in illegal logging, will appear in court.
This was reported in the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
Investigators found that the defendants had been illegally chopping wood for years on the territory of the Hutsulshchina National Natural Park. Officials without any permits and approvals issued documents for logging in areas that have not been subordinate to forestry for more than 20 years, but were part of the national park. The attackers sold the felled wood, and appropriated the money.
Photo: ifr.gp.gov.ua.
According to experts' estimates, the illegal activities of a group of dealers over several years caused damage to the environment of almost 250 million hryvnias.
The organized criminal group was created and headed by the head of the enterprise. He involved other forestry workers in it. So, in particular, from February to December 2022, the group included, in addition to the head of the enterprise, three more of his most experienced subordinates – an acting chief forester, a forester and an engineer for forest protection and protection. Together, they organized the illegal felling of more than 1,300 trees of various species. According to the conclusions of the examination, the environmental damages amounted to almost 3.4 million hryvnias.
In April of this year, all 4 members of the criminal group were informed by SBI investigators of suspicion of abuse of official position and illegal felling and sale of trees on the territory of the nature reserve fund (parts 2, 3 of article 27, part 3 of article 28, Part 2 of Article 364, Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
In order to compensate for the damages caused, the court seized the property of the defendants (a house, a plot of land and 2 cars), ordered the accused to be detained as a preventive measure and removed from their positions.
The SBI reported that the investigation is ongoing. Investigators are preparing suspicions against two groups of people who carried out illegal logging in the nature conservation area.
EcoPolitic recently reported that a deputy of the Rivne Regional Council, who was also the deputy head of the Polissky Forestry Office of the State Specialized Economic Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", condemned up to 5 years of imprisonment for illegal enrichment, and 104 million hryvnias seized from him during the investigation were confiscated for the benefit of the state.
We also talked about another criminal group that operated in the Lviv region. Its participants involved in illegal felling of trees for more than UAH 64 million.
