A trial will be held in Zhytomyr Oblast over a scheme involving the forgery of documents for logging
In the Zhytomyr region, a case has been referred to court against several former forestry employees suspected of attempting to organize the illegal felling of healthy trees using forged documents. According to the investigation, they tried to pass off healthy forest as pest-infested in order to obtain permission to cut it down. The scheme was stopped before logging began, and the losses could have exceeded millions of hryvnias, according to .
This was reported by the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office of the Office of the Prosecutor General, which concluded the investigation and forwarded the case materials to court. The case involves two former forestry engineers from the “Baranivske Forestry and Hunting Enterprise” branch of the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” a former assistant to the forester of the Yavnensky Forestry, and a forest pathologist from the company “Kyivlisozakhyst.”
According to the investigation, in June 2024, a group of officials entered false data into official documents, stating that 178 pine trees were allegedly infested with pests. It was these “findings” that served as the basis for issuing a logging permit, even though the trees were actually healthy. “If this scheme had been carried out, the environmental damage could have exceeded 1.8 million hryvnias,” the prosecutor’s office noted.
The illegal actions were stopped thanks to an investigation by internal and economic security personnel of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.” The logging permit was revoked, and the logging itself was blocked before work began.
The defendants are charged with attempted illegal logging, committed by a group of individuals acting in concert with serious consequences, as well as entering false information into official documents. The final decision in the case will be made by the court. In accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a lawful manner.
Additionally, Ihor Litsur, the executive director of the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” declared an annual salary of nearly 19 million hryvnias, as well as significant additional income and cash savings. At the same time, his declaration includes real estate purchased at prices that differ significantly from market rates. Separately, the official had previously been charged with official negligence.
In Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, the prosecutor’s office is seeking nearly 387 million hryvnias in damages through the courts for losses caused by logging in the “Hutsulshchyna” National Park. The investigation claims that under the guise of sanitary work, over 9,000 trees were destroyed there without the necessary permits and approvals. Now, authorities are attempting to hold the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” responsible, to which the relevant forestry enterprise was later merged.
