Three former military forestry officials face up to 10 years for illegal logging

According to the State Bureau of Investigation, three former heads of a military forestry farm in Dnipropetrovsk region will be tried for illegal logging worth almost UAH 70 million. This was reported by UNN with reference to the SBI.

Details

The Bureau's employees have completed the pre-trial investigation against three former heads of the Novomoskovsk military forestry farm in Dnipropetrovsk region, who for years allowed illegal felling of thousands of trees.

During the reorganization, the military forestry farm began to report to the State Forest Resources Agency. Its employees, buildings and property were transferred to the management of the State Forest Agency, but more than 20 thousand hectares of forest remained on the balance sheet of the Ministry of Defense.

Despite the reorganization, the heads of the forestry farm issued permits for felling trees without proper documentation in the territory for which they were no longer responsible. Because of this, illegal felling of trees of various species continued for years in the forests of the Ministry of Defense. The work was carried out by private enterprises, which then sold the timber in the interests of the organizers and participants of the scheme.

As part of the pre-trial investigation, 40 examinations were conducted, which established that due to the inaction of officials, trees worth more than UAH 68 million were illegally cut down in 2023.

Three former heads of the Novomoskovsk military forestry farm are accused of abuse of power (Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).