Law enforcement officials uncovered a large-scale scheme to launder contraband oak worth 147 million hryvnia
Prosecutors from the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, in collaboration with agents from the State Bureau of Investigations, uncovered and shut down a large-scale criminal scheme to launder illegally harvested timber of valuable species.
The organizers of this illegal operation mass-produced fictitious documents for illegally felled oak trees in order to sell them.
The total value of financial transactions involving the sale of this environmental resource exceeds 147 million hryvnias.
Investigative authorities determined that the illegal scheme was actively operating from 2022 to 2025 across several regions.
The perpetrators officially registered the illegally felled oak trees as legally harvested timber, which allowed them to sell it to consumers without hindrance.
In total, approximately 19,000 cubic meters of timber were legalized through this scheme, equivalent to nearly 10,000 mature trees that were needlessly destroyed.
This large-scale criminal operation was organized and meticulously coordinated by the head of a private company that carried out forestry activities and directly used lands belonging to the state forest fund.
He enlisted other civilians in the scheme, who, in exchange for monetary compensation, entered knowingly false information into the electronic timber accounting system.
In effect, these fictitious database entries served as the official basis for the subsequent sale of the timber and its successful export outside Ukraine.
Based on the falsified data, the dealers were able to freely issue waybills and obtain state certificates of origin for the timber, which were required for export.
Documents containing false information were actively used by more than 100 different business entities, including some of Ukraine’s largest timber exporters.
Law enforcement officials are currently conducting a detailed review of the financial records of all companies that purchased the questionable raw materials.
Special forces have already detained four key members of this organized criminal group directly at their places of residence.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
In Kyiv, a woman kicked in a supermarket door after being refused alcohol
A court sentenced the suspect in the murder of activist Hanul to life in prison
