07.09.2024 Ecology

Fortunes on fortifications and shameful environmental policy of foresters

Приїхав з робочим візитом: на Буковину завітав ще один міністр » ТВА

Ukraine’s forestry industry can be called one of the most corrupt. We have talked about the many violations, the sale of timber at half price to “their” companies, illegal timber exports, and the incredible enrichment of forestry managers in a number of articles. Despite this, fortifications have now become the main trough for “environmentalists”.

The key figures in the forestry industry in Ukraine are engaged in the supply of timber for them: Minister of Environmental Protection Ruslan Strilets, Head of the State Forestry Agency Viktor Smal and Head of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” Yuriy Bolokhovets, managed to earn more than one million. In fact, they have traded thousands of lives and hundreds of kilometers of territory for their own benefit. Although the Minister was quietly dismissed, his colleagues continue to implement forestry schemes in the forests of Chornobyl and the frontline regions.

Supplying timber for fortifications

As you know, wood is the main material needed for the construction of fortifications. That is why Ukrainian forestry enterprises and legal entities under their control have actively started the process of earning money on fortifications. It goes as follows: forestry enterprises sell timber for military needs at a price inflated by millions of hryvnias. Often, such transactions are carried out with related LLCs, PEs, or sole proprietorships, which rotate the wood in several circles to further artificially increase its value.

However, the situation is presented in a slightly different way in the official sphere. According to Bolokhovets, director of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” the timber is provided to the military by forestry enterprises free of charge.

«The military unit determines the volume, agrees with the CAA. The administration sends an appeal to the “Forests of Ukraine”… It seems that there is nothing to talk about? The forest is state-owned, the wood is state-owned. They took it and gave it to the military… That’s why wood is supplied to the front from all over the country. Almost all branches of the Forests of Ukraine are involved. Harvesting, transportation from the upper warehouses to the railway station, loading into railcars – all expenses are covered by the company. We pay taxes for the wood, as if we had sold the resource and received income».

Nevertheless, open sources contain a dozen public procurements where military units conclude large contracts for the supply of timber for the construction of defense structures. One of the favorites and most frequent winners of timber tenders is a certain Trading and Delivery LLC (TED LLC). In the last year alone, the volume of state contracts it received increased by almost UAH 50 million, which already indicates possible ties to forestry officials and controllers.

Moreover, in most of the procurements, the cost of timber is overstated by several times. The timber supply scheme is also interesting. As we wrote earlier, TED purchases timber from the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and other forestry enterprises that are affiliated and controlled by officials of the State Forestry Agency at a reduced price. Later, as a result of winning multimillion-dollar tenders, the company sells timber to state-owned enterprises at an inflated price, thereby generating its own profit at the expense of budget funds

TED LLC looks like an ordinary “gasket” – in this case, between Ukrainian forestry enterprises as suppliers and military administrations and units as customers. A “gasket” whose founder is clearly connected to the head of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and the State Forestry Agency.

As they write octogenarians, it is noteworthy that TED LLC wins tenders not only for military units, but also for the SE “Forests of Ukraine” itself. For example, in June 2024, the state enterprise chose Maxim Pirogov’s company in the tender for logging services worth UAH 3.1 million. In January 2024 took place the same story, but for almost UAH 8 million. It really looks like “close cooperation.”

So where is the promised free wood for the fortifications?

It is unfortunate that law enforcement officers ignore this and only formally initiate an investigation to “mark it as done.” According to our materials, the TU BES in Kyiv was registered in the URPI under the number 72024102100000031, but can we expect anything other than a letter of formal action?

According to journalists, in addition to manipulating timber for fortifications, foresters also implement corruption schemes based on deception of the electronic timber accounting system, which is actually a cover for illegal timber traffic and costs several hundred million a year to maintain.

The electronic timber accounting system introduced across the country means that before releasing logs loaded onto a logging truck, the forester must put electronic chips on them. Thus, anyone with access to the EDM can read all the parameters of each log and the batch as a whole.

But the nuance is that the forester manually enters the technical and quality indicators of the goods into the electronic register, meaning that he can accidentally or deliberately indicate a lower class of wood or reduce the volume. This is how the money laundering scheme works.

Also, as noted by journalists and activists, the electronic timber accounting system does not have a certificate of a comprehensive information security system. This means that anyone can have access to strategic information, including defense information, in any amount, because, as noted above, a large amount of timber is used by the Armed Forces.

The absence of a certificate of a comprehensive information security system allows the head of the State Forestry Agency, Viktor Smal, whose subordinates are administrators of the EDI, to “get in”. He has publicly stated that it is allegedly impossible to falsify data in the EDF system, but for some reason the system has not yet received a certificate. Given that Viktor Smal is a former IT businessman, and the fact that in 2015 he created an online auction for the sale of raw wood for exchange trading in the regions of Ukraine, you will agree that it is very strange that this person has not yet resolved this issue. Perhaps because it is profitable not to solve it?

Thus, despite numerous scandals and criminal proceedings involving Smal and Bolokhovets, these men still hold the top positions in the forestry sector. While Minister Strilets himself disappeared without a trace, immediately after the parliament supported his resignation. So will the new minister be able to influence the established, rotten corruption system, or will he succumb to the temptation like his colleagues?

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