Another criminal case against the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" was registered by the Office of the Prosecutor General in November. The reason was unjustified payments to members of the Supervisory Board, which amounted to more than UAH 6 million. However, this is only one of the anti-corruption cases involving the chief administrator of Ukrainian forests.
This is evidenced by data obtained by the publication "190".
In particular, Yuriy Bolokhovets, the former CEO of Lisy Ukrainy, was suspected of illegal enrichment. This case was handled by the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAZK). According to media reports, the chairman of the supervisory board, Oleksiy Kucher, accumulated bitcoins worth almost UAH 300 million, but declared their value to be lower.
"Strict control" as a formality
One of the levers against corruption should be the company's supervisory board. Instead, it receives unjustified millions in additional payments from "Forests."
The Public Audit Institute sees this as not only a systemic risk but also a possible personal liability for each member of the board.
Against the backdrop of large-scale corruption proceedings, the public association prepared an appeal to the Supervisory Board, in which it set out its comments and suspicions of neglect of duty.
The publication "190" outlined the main ones:
- Public support of state enterprise management. On the one hand, the Board talks about strict control, while on the other, it replaces a comprehensive, independent audit of "Forests of Ukraine’s" financial activities with a questionable audit.
- Non-fulfillment of public obligations. In May 2025, the chairman of the Supervisory Board, Oleksiy Kucher, insisted that a future audit would be conducted according to international standards with the involvement of an “authoritative international company.” However, according to the "Institute of Public Audit," the tender for a limited, not a full, audit was won by a controversial firm. This company has also served other state enterprises, so civic auditors see this as another attempt to produce a "convenient" report.
Appeal to partner countries
The supervisory board includes foreign representatives. Therefore, the Public Audit Institute sent information letters to the embassies and foreign ministries of Latvia, Canada, and Finland. The union warns of possible risks to the reputation of its citizens and informs them about the possible illegality of the funds they have received.
The union assumes that Janne Harjunpaa, Roberts Stripnieks, and Markiyan Vitvitsky may not have had a complete picture of the internal financial flows in "Forests of Ukraine." However, the mention of their names in corruption scandals will not benefit either foreign citizens or the practice of involving them in the supervision of state-owned enterprises.
“We would not want your country’s citizen to become a hostage of someone else’s corrupt schemes and a subject of criminal proceedings regarding the embezzlement of Ukrainian state funds. This could be used to discredit the very idea of involving foreign specialists in the reform of the public sector,” the civic activists write.
EcoPolitic previously reported that corruption in the forestry sector in Ukraine has become systemic. Only the officially recorded losses to the state for the years 2023–2025 exceeded 1 billion UAH.
