Since the beginning of the year, control bodies have discovered dozens of cases of corruption of officials in the environmental sphere: from the extortion of relatively small bribes by representatives of local authorities, to multimillion-dollar embezzlements that have enriched officials involved in them for years.
EcoPolitic has collected for its readers the top 10 most resonant corruption cases according to the editor's version, which caused a flurry of indignation among experts and the public.
1. Large-scale investigation of the BlackBox OSINT project regarding the general director of the State Enterprise "Lisa Ukrainy"
The investigators accused Yuri Bolokhovets of illegal enrichment, "crushing" of illegal logging and corruption in the industry.
2. Bulk purchases of cars, as well as electric bicycles for SE "Lisa Ukrainy"
Investigators blamed Yuri Bolokhovets in illegal enrichment, "crushing" of illegal logging and corruption in the industry.
According to information People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, this state-owned enterprise buys the largest number of cars among all Ukrainian SOEs. If we add the latest purchases at the beginning of August, their number for 2023-2024 will be 416 units.
3. Illegal enrichment of the exhibitor of the ecoinspection for almost UAH 20 million
At the ex-head of the State Inspectorate of the Carpathian District Mykola Ladovskyi and members of his family discovered 2 expensive cars, 4 apartments and non-residential premises in Ivano-Frankivsk, which they could not buy with legitimate earnings.
4. Huge illegal logging in the Chernobyl reserve
Raids by monitoring groups discovered 12 illegal fellings of the forest, which in just 1 month caused losses of approximately UAH 70 million.
5. Losses to the state in the amount of UAH 264 million in SE "Northern Pushcha"
State Audit Service checked activities of the State Specialized Enterprise "Northern Forest", which is under the management of the State Agency of Ukraine for Management of the Exclusion Zone, and recorded illegal felling for more than UAH 120 million, the loss of the company's assets, the conclusion of unprofitable contracts and the payment of excessive allowances to the management of the institution.
6. "Group" notification of suspicion
In the Lviv region, the deputy head of the regional forestry department and 7 managers of forest farms reported on suspicion of illegal felling of sparse forests, which caused losses of more than UAH 64 million.
7. Money laundering by a Lviv official
Oleksandra Sladkova, deputy director of the economic development department of the Lviv City Council received suspicion due to the laundering of funds for cleaning the lake.
8. A hidden villa in a protected forest
The family of the scandalous Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynyvych, who is under investigation, discovered illegal mansion of 600 m2 with a swimming pool in the middle of the forest, which is partly on protected land.
9. Illegal felling and purchases at inflated prices
Auditors from the state-owned enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" in the Rava-Rusky Forest Farm in Lviv Oblast counted almost UAH 50 million in losses to the state due to illegal felling and conclusion of unprofitable contracts.
10. Systematic bribes for approval of documentation
