SBI served notice of suspicion to two directors of state forestry enterprises who permitted tree felling valued at millions of hryvnias

Two directors of state forestry enterprises in Lviv region were notified of suspicion by SBI employees. The two executives had illegally issued logging permits to work in areas that are part of the nature reserve fund of the Boykivshchyna National Nature Park.

These officials issued the permits despite the fact that logging can only take place on such lands after approval by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and with the permission of the Lviv Regional State Administration.

As a consequence, 465 beech trees were illegally cut down in one of the forestries of the state enterprise "Turkivske Forestry", causing damage to the state of more than UAH 2 million.

And 85 spruce and fir trees were cut down in the Borinske Forestry State Enterprise using an illegally issued logging ticket. The environmental damage amounted to almost UAH 200 thousand.

The cut timber was sold to private companies in both incidents.

The forestry directors, one of whom is a deputy of the Sambir District Council, were served with a notice of suspicion of abuse of office (Art. 365(1), 365(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The application for bail in the amount of UAH 2.2 million was filed to the court.

The case is being supervised by the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office.