Land scam near "Bukovel": nearly 10 hectares of Carpathian forest are being returned to the state

Almost 10 hectares of illegally appropriated Carpathian forest near the elite Bukovel resort are being returned to Ukraine. The Prosecutor General’s Office reports this, according to UNN.

Details

This became possible because the courts upheld the prosecutor’s claims to return to the state 26 of the 30 illegally privatized forest plots, with a total area of almost 10 hectares. According to the prosecutors, these are lands belonging to the Polianytsia community (Ivano-Frankivsk region, — ed.) that had been under the permanent use of a state forestry enterprise since 2001. No decisions had been made to remove them from the forest fund.

Despite this, starting in 2022, the plots were illegally registered as agricultural land using forged state deeds. They were subsequently registered to straw persons, divided, consolidated, and resold. Cottages, car parks, and recreational facilities were planned to be built on the illegally privatized territories.

One of the pieces of evidence of document forgery was satellite imagery covering more than 15 years, which confirmed the absence of any signs of agricultural activity on these lands.

At present, environmental prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office are seeking the return to the state of all 30 land plots and the cancellation of their illegal registration in the State Land Cadastre. Officials who provided the documents used to produce the forged state deeds have already received guilty verdicts.

Meanwhile, the court continues to hear the case against a land management engineer, state registrars, and one of the scheme’s organizers. Other persons involved in the case have only been notified of suspicion.

Context

According to the state enterprise "Forests of Ukraine," most of the territory has preserved its centuries-old Carpathian forest because construction work has not begun there. Some trees are 113 years old, reach up to 30 meters in height, and have trunk diameters of up to 50 centimeters. Most regrettably, the forest on one of the plots has already been destroyed. Cottages and a car park were built in its place without the proper permits.

Reminder

A year ago, law enforcement officers exposed a scheme involving the illegal alienation of 6 hectares of forest near Bukovel, causing the state losses of more than UAH 20 million. Three persons involved, including a cadastral registrar, were notified of suspicion.