The Special Environmental Prosecutor's Office has uncovered schemes of illegal logging, smuggling, and official negligence in the forest sector of Zhytomyr region. Large-scale environmental and economic crimes have resulted in almost UAH 23 million in damages to the state. Three suspects have been charged, and one case is already in court. This is reported by UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Details
The investigation was conducted by the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office jointly with the SBU, National Police, SBI, and DSR.
Among the suspects are heads of state, communal, and private enterprises.
Specifically:
- an official of the "Hrozynske" State Enterprise organized illegal logging in protected forests, causing damages of UAH 14.6 million;
- a forest master from the "Stolychnyi Lisovyi Ofis" branch of the "Forests of Ukraine" State Enterprise, due to official negligence, allowed the unauthorized felling of 286 trees for UAH 2.4 million;
- the head of a private enterprise used forged documents for the illegal export of prohibited timber for over UAH 5 million.
Separately, prosecutors submitted an indictment to the court against the head of the Zhytomyr City Council's solid waste landfill. He is accused of polluting forest lands, which caused damages of UAH 840,000.
The actions of the defendants are classified under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, including Part 3 of Article 201-1 (smuggling), Part 1 of Article 239 (pollution or damage to land), Part 4 of Article 246 (illegal logging), Part 4 of Article 358 (forgery of documents).