Illegal felling of trees: Director of the National Park in Volyn is served with a notice of suspicion shutterstock

Illegal felling of trees: Director of the National Park in Volyn is served with a notice of suspicion

Elizaveta Volkotrub

Damages to the state exceed UAH 16.5 million

In Volyn region, the director of the Kivertsi National Nature Park "Tsumanska Pushcha" was served a notice of suspicion of illegal felling of trees worth over UAH 16.5 million.

According to the investigation, in July 2023, the official, together with the owner of one of the Volyn woodworking enterprises, illegally cut down trees on the territory of the Tsumanska Pushcha reserve, which led to losses to the state budget, the press service of the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office reports on Facebook.

It is known that they involved hired workers who were unaware of the illegality of such actions.

Also, the official's accomplice, the owner of a woodworking company, was notified of suspicion of illegal felling of trees in the territory of the nature reserve fund, which entailed serious consequences (Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The issue of removing the park director from office and choosing a preventive measure is currently being decided.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, in Odesa region, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation brought to court the case of the head of one of the branches of the state enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", who organized the illegal felling of more than 1500 trees in the territory of the national natural park. The damage caused by the destruction of the trees amounted to UAH 145 million.

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According to the expert, such abuses can be detected using one of the state databases