An official was suspected of organizing a forestry scheme worth 50 million UAH in Vinnytsia

An official was suspected of organizing a forestry scheme worth 50 million UAH in Vinnytsia facebook.com/DBRKhmelnytskyi
Katerina Belousova

The ecosystem has undergone negative anthropogenic changes and will not be able to recover for many years

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation reported the suspicion of officials from of the forestry sector of Vinnytsia in the illegal issuance of permits for felling of forest for 48.6 million hryvnias.

Criminals destroyed 7,000 trees on the territory of the Mogilev-Podilskyi Forestry on an area of ​​14 hectares, reports the Terupravlinnia DBR in Khmelnytskyi on Facebook.

The message emphasized that at the time of committing the offense, the official held the position of acting the first deputy head of the Vinnytsia Regional Department of Forestry and Hunting.

facebook.com/DBRKhmelnytskyi

The SBI documented 5 episodes of illegal issuance of a permit without an environmental impact assessment procedure.

"The ecosystem of the plantations where the trees were cut down has undergone negative anthropogenic changes and cannot be restored to its prime state for many years to come," the report says.

Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in the Vinnytsia region, 5 officials of the forestry industry will be tried, whose machinations caused 87 million hryvnias in damages. Over the course of 3 years, they illegally cut down about 13,000 trees of various species, including rare ones, in Kryzhopolskyi forestry.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Volyn, Kovel City Council member Pavel Semenyuk was suspected of organizing a criminal scheme to export illegal timber worth more than 44 million UAH.

Related
Weekly round-up of environmental crimes: billions in losses from mineral resources, forests and pollution
Weekly round-up of environmental crimes: billions in losses from mineral resources, forests and pollution

In two instances, business owners felled thousands of trees on leased land without permission

Hostels for pollinating insects: special shelters for bees have been set up in the Kyiv region
Hostels for pollinating insects: special shelters for bees have been set up in the Kyiv region

The plan is to create around fifty sites where bees and wasps can settle

War-damaged woodland to be felled: these and other provisions of the new government decree
War-damaged woodland to be felled: these and other provisions of the new government decree

Trees felled during sanitary felling during the war will not be counted towards the felling quota