Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Zakarpattia, law enforcement officers uncovered a scheme of illegal extraction of andesite at a deposit near Uzhhorod, as a result of which the state sustained damages of nearly one billion hryvnias. The organizer of the scheme and three participants were charged—the head of the enterprise, the chief engineer, and the director of the company that sold the mined rock. One of the suspects received a notice of suspicion right at the border during an attempt to leave Ukraine.
Details of the investigation were announced in a Telegram channel by the General Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko. According to him, in 2024 year the company received permission only for geological exploration and pilot production of a section of 59 hectares, but in fact started industrial extraction.
"For the quarry to operate, about 10 hectares of forest were destroyed, and lands of the forest fund were used unlawfully to lay 2,6 kilometers of power lines and 52 supports for them," Kravchenko wrote in his Telegram channel.
According to the investigation, the rock was mined by blasting without a mandatory environmental impact assessment, and there were at least 13 such blasting facts recorded. In total, approximately 417 thousand cubic meters of minerals were illegally mined. Violations were also found at the selling stage: according to tax reporting, more than 774 thousand tons of andesite were sold, and another 353 thousand tons of unaccounted product valued at about 247 million UAH was allegedly sold for cash, according to the investigation.
Suspects in the case, according to a source of Ukrainska Pravda, include co-founder of LLC "CobaltumResourceExport" Zakarpattia Regional Council deputy Mihailo Laba, founder and director of this company Volodymyr Andryushchenko, chief engineer of the enterprise Oleksandr Klyin, and director of LLC "BudTrading" Serhiy Petruk, who received a notice of suspicion at the border during an attempt to leave the country.
"According to court-expert conclusions, total damages to the state amounted to more than 949,8 million UAH," Kravchenko noted, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.
Prosecutor's Office seeks bail and remand for the suspects.
Depending on their role in the scheme, suspects are charged with illegal extraction of minerals that caused grave consequences, as well as legalization of proceeds obtained by criminal means. The question of preventive measures is being decided: for three defendants—the regional council deputy, the quarry director, and the director of the selling company—the prosecutor's office has sent to court motions for detention with an alternative bail of 100 million UAH each, and for the chief engineer, a remand with an alternative bail of 10 million UAH.
Kravchenko also drew attention to the fact that during the investigation law enforcement officers recorded conversations of scheme participants about continuing use of the site despite lawsuits from the prosecutor's office, and mentions of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada that is addressing the situation around the deposit.
"The TSC mechanism should continue to be an instrument for establishing the truth, not a cover for a company whose activities caused the state nearly a billion in damages," Kravchenko emphasized.
Earlier, Informator reported that NABU announced new details of the deputy Tyschenko's suspicion—the investigation established facts of bribe-taking from a sought-after businessman. We also wrote that VAKS sent the deputy of Poltava City Council Brazhnyk to custody in a case of million-dollar bribes for repairs of housing and communal services facilities.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Майже 1 мільярд збитків – депутат із Закарпаття може бути причетний до незаконного видобутку копалин". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
