Military forestry management implicated in illegal logging worth over UAH 1.5 million discovered in Transcarpathia

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, together with the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine, have uncovered facts of illegal logging by the management of the State Enterprise “Uzhgorod Military Forestry”.

According to the investigation, officials of the enterprise organized the felling of valuable trees on the territory of a military town in Transcarpathia. This information was published by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Law enforcement officers found out that they issued a logging permit for a plot that did not belong to the distribution of forest resources. Then equipment was delivered to this territory and logging began.

As a result of this activity, oaks, ash trees, acacias and hornbeams were destroyed, and unprocessed wood was transported and sold through enterprises owned by the persons involved in the case.

According to operational data, officials received remuneration for the sale of illegally harvested wood.

Expert studies confirmed that the state and the environment were damaged in the amount of more than 1.5 million hryvnias.

Three defendants are suspected of illegal logging and sale of wood, committed by a group of persons in a prior conspiracy with grave consequences (Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). This article provides for up to 7 years of imprisonment.

At the moment, a petition has been sent to the court for the election of a preventive measure in the form of detention.

The pre-trial investigation continues, and law enforcement officers are working to identify all persons involved. The procedural management in this case is carried out by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in the Field of Defense of the Western Region.

We also highlight the case in Bukovina, where large-scale illegal logging was exposed, which led to losses in the amount of about 19 million hryvnias due to the negligence of local foresters.