Prosecutors exposed and arrested foresters were extorting money from businesses for logging and export of wood

Under procedural control of the management of Transcarpathian regional prosecution office, regional prosecutors, together with military prosecutors and officers of the Security Service of Ukraine Office in the region, exposed corrupt officials of the forest industry in the region, who established a system of levies from businesses for providing permits for logging and further export of wood. Today, officials of the forest industry were arrested while receiving the next tranche of bribe in amount of 6,000 UAH from a local businessman. Criminal proceeding under part 3 of Art.368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (obtaining undue advantage by an official) has been initiated. Urgent investigative measures to document the illegal activities of the officials are being taken. It has been preliminary established that under the documents of a controlled commercial entity, that was not related to the forest industry, the officials established a scheme for receiving bribes from local businessmen for logging and subsequent sale of wood. Grossly violating legislation on occupational safety, they issued permits for equipment and allowed employees of private companies to perform hazardous work in the groves.  

Source: Prosecutor’s Office in Transcarpathian region