The head of the Berehove Forestry Department of the Carpathian Forest Office, a branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” organized a scheme whereby valuable oak wood was sold at the price of firewood. The total value of illegally sold forest products is almost UAH 1 million.
This was reported by the press service of the Transcarpathian Regional Prosecutor's Office.
Prosecutors did not name the person involved. However, according to information from the organization Eco-World, it is Anatoliy Kozar, who was appointed to head the Berehove Forestry in January 2025.
There was oak – now there is firewood
The investigation found that the official took advantage of his position and, during March-April this year, arranged the sale of high-quality oak wood to companies without legal grounds.
The suspect involved his subordinates, acquaintances, and a company under his control, where he was a fictitious owner, in the illegal activity. Prosecutors say that two employees refused to carry out their boss's criminal instructions, while the rest agreed. In official documents, they passed off commercial oak as firewood and sold 20 cubic meters of forest products worth over UAH 922,000 to a company in Mukachevo that did not have the appropriate permits to receive it.
Photo: zak.gp.gov.ua.
The truck with timber was stopped by law enforcement officers while it was being transported to Volyn.
The head of the forestry was charged under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for abuse of office, which caused serious consequences. The article provides for imprisonment for a term of 3 to 6 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to 3 years, with a fine of 500 to 1,000 non-taxable minimum incomes.
Photo: zak.gp.gov.ua.
Prosecutors have applied to the court for the arrest of the suspect and his removal from office. All persons involved and other possible facts of illegal activity are currently being established.
How to expose such schemes: expert commentary
Petro Testov, an ecologist and head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, says that timber deals have been going on in Berehove for a very long time.
He claims that this was evident from the public statistics of the State Enterprise “Forestry Innovation and Analytical Center,” since the main use of the forestry was mainly for firewood.
“Then I checked this on site — the harvested timber was not specifically entered into the system until a buyer was found. And if the buyer was ‘one of their own,’ then it was entered as firewood,” says the ecologist.
He suspects that similar schemes exist in other forest districts, as well as among other forest users. According to the expert, no special knowledge is needed to select such “risky” state-owned enterprises. He says that it is enough to analyze the electronic accounting system: look at the percentage of expensive assortments for different types of logging, find abnormal volumes of acceptance, and look at sales contracts. Then it will be clear where to go and check.
According to Petro Testov, the state-owned enterprise LIAC is very good at doing such analysis. He says that it would be good if law enforcement agencies had access to the database of this state-owned enterprise, which has historically been restricted.
Just recently, EcoPolitic reported that activists had discovered massive logging in the Plaiski Forestry in Zakarpattia, where not a single logging permit had been issued in a year.
