Wood smuggling: Odesa court chose a preventive measure for the deputy

 Acting on materials provided by detectives from the Territorial Office of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine in the Odesa region, the court has chosen a preventive measure for a deputy.

During the investigation, detectives established that the deputy of the Dobryanka village council of the Chernihiv region, together with two accomplices, had been smuggling timber materials to the European Union for a year.

The individuals involved forged certificates of origin for the wood and obtained relevant certifications. For customs clearance, they submitted documents containing false data and changed checkpoints to avoid control. The timber was transported through various checkpoints to avoid drawing the attention of regulatory authorities.

In this way, almost 115 m³ of wood were exported outside of Ukraine.

The suspects were exposed during the export of another batch of smuggled timber through the Starokozache checkpoint in the Odesa region.

To secure compensation for damages caused by the criminal offense, the court seized 39 land plots, 2 residential buildings, and vehicles belonging to the deputy. The total amount of the seizure is almost 30 million UAH.

Currently, the Odesa court has chosen a preventive measure for the organizer of the smuggling in the form of detention with the possibility of bail in the amount of over 3 million UAH.

The pre-trial investigation under Part 2 of Article 201-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (movement of timber or sawn timber of valuable and rare tree species, unprocessed timber, as well as other timber materials prohibited for export outside the customs territory of Ukraine, across the customs border of Ukraine outside of customs control or with concealment from customs control) is ongoing.

Operational support is provided by the Security Service of Ukraine in the Chernihiv region.

Procedural guidance is provided by prosecutors of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.