Officials of the Volyn Regional Department of Forestry and Hunting are on trial for organizing illegal logging in the amount of 39.5 million hryvnias. The consideration of this case began at the beginning of 2024 in the Lyuboml District Court.
In the period from 2019 to 2021, the state enterprise "Lyuboml Forestry" (now the "Lyuboml Forestry" branch of the SE "Forests of Ukraine") together with the production association "Ukrderzhlisproyekt" developed a new program for forest management of land. According to the results of the survey, forest plantations on the territory of Lyubomlsk, Chornoplesk, Mosyrsk and Holovnyan forestry were included in the felling fund.
According to the procedure, the forest farm had to undergo an environmental impact assessment and obtain special permits for continuous felling, but this was not done. According to the investigation, the first deputy head of the regional department of forestry and hunting, chief forester Ruslan Voytsekhovskyi, turned a blind eye to this negligence and, together with forestry department specialist Victoria Novosad and forestry engineer Yury Zagoruyk, organized the process of legalizing felling without the appropriate documents.
Yuriy Zagoruyko regularly submitted applications to the Lutsk administrative services center for the issuance of logging tickets, which were then handed over to Victoria Novosad, the chief specialist of the forestry department of the Volyn regional administration. She issued tickets and handed them over to Ruslan Wojciechovskyi for review.
Thus, in 2019, 1,155 trees were cut down in two areas of the Mosyr Forestry with a total area of 3.6 hectares, which amounted to 9.4 million hryvnias. In 2020, another 251 trees were cut down here, causing 2.6 million hryvnias worth of damage.
In 2020, 1,466 trees were cut down in Chornoples Forestry on an area of almost three hectares, which caused damages in the amount of more than 14 million hryvnias . Later, on the same territory, illegal felling was organized on another two hectares, cutting down 1,117 trees worth 7.6 million hryvnias. Illegal felling also took place in the Holovnyan forestry, where 731 trees worth 5.9 million hryvnias were cut down.
In general, according to law enforcement officials, the accomplices caused losses to the state in the amount of 39.5 million hryvnias. Anatolii Borsuk, the former chief specialist of the Forestry Department of the Volyn Administration, who is currently working as the chief specialist of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, also appears in this case. However, the investigators did not prove his involvement in all episodes of the crime, so his case was separated into a separate criminal proceeding.
In March 2024, the court combined two almost identical cases that were considered in the Luboml District Court of the Volyn Region. In July 2022, suspicions were brought against Ruslan Voytsechovsky, Yuriy Zagoruyk, Anatoliy Borsuk, and Victoria Novosad. Soon Wojciechowski and Zagoruyk were removed from their positions and a preventive measure was chosen in the form of night house arrest.
In September 2022, an appeal canceled Wojciechowski's house arrest, replacing it with a personal bond. At the end of 2022, the court seized Wojciechowski's car, a 2019 Toyota Camry. Zagoruyka was also changed from night house arrest to a personal bond and his property was seized, in particular a plot of land and a house with an area of 124 square meters in the village of Kusnyshcha of the Kovel district.
Anatoly Borsuk was not removed from his position in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, but they only applied a preventive measure in the form of a personal commitment. Also, in September 2022, Volodymyr Turevich, director of the Lyuboml Forest Farm, was searched, during which an iPhone 13 mobile phone and $30,000 in cash were seized. However, in February 2023, the seizure of these items was lifted by the Kyiv Court of Appeal.
In September 2023, the Lutsk City and District Court again tried to choose a preventive measure in the form of house arrest for Wojciechovskyi, Zagoruyk, and Novosad, but the court limited it to personal cases only. obligations. They are accused of exceeding official authority, which caused serious consequences. They face up to 10 years in prison.
In February 2024, a preliminary hearing in the case was held in the Lyuboml District Court, and the hearing is currently ongoing.
