Participants of this criminal scheme illegally smuggled wholesale consignments of state-owned timber of valuable species. The supply of timber was carried out at artificially reduced prices to foreign firms controlled by Dmytro Firtash, who is under sanctions of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

As a result of this illicit activity, the state budget did not receive dozens of millions of hryvnias, which were transferred to shadow accounts of the ‘businessmen’, instead of financing the defence needs of Ukraine in the conditions of russia’s full-scale aggression.

It has been established that the management of a state forestry enterprise in Kirovohrad region is involved in the organization of smuggling. Its officials set up a criminal mechanism to obtain money by selling high-quality oak lumber abroad.

To carry out the deal, they made agreements with an affiliated commercial entity, registered in a European country and subordinated to the sanctioned companies.

According to the signed documents, the state enterprise supplied products to the foreign side in industrial volumes at artificially reduced prices. To do this, they entered false information on the quantity and quality of raw material exported from the forestry.

According to preliminary data, the obtained ‘difference in price’ was diverted to shadow accounts by the participants of the scheme through controlled companies.

The SSU has documented the facts of illegal sale of timber and identified the organizers of the scheme.

The head of the state-owned enterprise has been notified of suspicion of committing a crime. The court is to choose the measure of restraint.

The pre-trial investigation is underway.

The SSU Office in Kirovohrad region carried out the operation under the procedural supervision of Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor’s Office.