Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation in 2022 investigated 172 criminal proceedings in the field of ecology in 5 regions of Ukraine.
Damages from the investigated crimes against the environment reached 128 million hryvnias, according to the territorial administration of the SBI located in the city of Khmelnytskyi on Facebook.
This territorial administration of the DBR extends its activities to the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, and Chernivtsi regions.
The press service noted that in 2022, thanks to the work of SBI investigators:
- 36 persons were notified of suspicion;
- 15 indictments against 28 persons were sent to the court (14 of them are employees of the State Forest Guard);
- 2 organized criminal groups were exposed and brought to court;
- property worth 53 million 447 thousand UAH was seized.
Among the most high-profile proceedings in 2022, the press service of the SBI considers that:
- officials from Bukovyna and their accomplices will appear before the court. Criminals cut down trees, mined sand-gravel mixture, and stole budget funds. This caused damage to the state of more than 100 million hryvnias;
- officials of the forestry industry in Vinnytsia region were informed of suspicion of illegal felling for almost 90 million hryvnias;
- members of a criminal organization will appear before the court for large-scale deforestation in the Rivne region.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in Vinnytsia, the State Bureau of Investigation reported the suspicion to a forester from the Yampil Forestry of the State Enterprise "Zhmeryn Forestry", according to plowing of 14 hectares of the reserve for the purpose of creating a private hunting ground.
