The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has completed a scheduled inspection of the organisation of work to prevent and detect corruption at the state-owned specialised economic enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ (hereinafter referred to as SE ‘Forests of Ukraine’).
In particular, NACP found that corruption risks arise due to the lack of clear mechanisms for selecting forest areas for road construction and tree felling, which creates grounds for abuse.
For example, officials of one of the enterprise's branches unreasonably planned the construction of a forest motorway in 2023, although part of this road had already been built in previous years. Based on the NACP's materials, the National Police registered criminal proceedings on the grounds of a corruption offence under Part 4 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
To eliminate this corruption risk, NACP initiated the development of a regulatory act to regulate the rules for selecting forest areas for road construction and logging. These mechanisms must take into account the requirements of environmental legislation and the restrictions established therein. NACP sent a letter to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
Corruption risks also arise due to delays by the State Enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ in issuing title documents for the use of forest fund lands. This leads to abuses involving the removal of forest plots from the forest fund, their misuse, and the felling of trees. This is confirmed by about 50 criminal proceedings initiated in this area. In particular, five criminal proceedings have been initiated on the initiative of the NACP alone.
A pre-trial investigation is being conducted into the abuse of office by officials of the territorial divisions of the State Enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’. These officials used almost 40 hectares of forest areas, including within nature conservation areas in the Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Rivne regions, for purposes other than those for which they were intended. In particular, the land was used for sowing and growing grain.
In addition, on the territory of the Osmolodsky Forestry in Ivano-Frankivsk region, forest felling was carried out on the basis of a special permit obtained from the Western Interregional Forestry and Hunting Administration, concealing the fact that the land plot is located in the protected area of the Grofa Landscape Reserve of national importance.
In its inspection report, NACP emphasised that the State Enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ should intensify its efforts to register rights to forest plots.
As a reminder, NACP has already completed scheduled inspections of the organisation of work to prevent and detect corruption in the activities of the State Agency of Ukraine for Land Reclamation, Fisheries and Food Programmes and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.
