Investigation: Polish customs officers allow timber under sanctions from Belarus into the EU

Belarussian timber, subject to sanctions, is imported to the territory of the European Union through Poland, using forged documents. The fictitious papers indicate that the products are coming from Kazakhstan. In its justification, the Polish customs notes that it does not have the opportunity to check all declarations.

This is stated in the joint investigation of the "Schemes" project by the Ukrainian editorial office of Radio Liberty, the Belarusian Investigative Center and Gazeta Wyborcza.

Journalists established that after the introduction of sanctions on wood from Belarus, the import of wood from Kazakhstan to the EU increased significantly. According to Eurostat, in 2022 wood products worth €14 million were imported from Kazakhstan, and in 2023 this figure increased almost fivefold to €68 million.

Journalists analyzed one of the contracts between the Kazakh firm Nurr-electro and the Polish PLRBL for the supply of a pine palisade worth almost one million euros. The contract itself is dated October 2022, and delivery — early 2023.

It turned out that the signatures and seals on the document of Nurr-electro of Kazakhstan were forged and, as noted by two independent experts in graphic design, were superimposed on the documents with the help of a photo editor.

In addition, the lawyer of the Kazakh company Nurr-electro Arman Tulievich commented to journalists that "there were no financial transactions under such an agreement, not that of goods" and "we do not have such a seal." And the representative of the Belarusian carrier company "Gallardo" admitted that "we did not transport from Kazakhstan, we transported from Belarus, we were loaded there."

As the journalists found out with the help of sources in the market, the shipment of wood took place from the warehouse of a Belarusian enterprise, the owner of which is the owner of the Polish buyer company PLRBL Oleh Yanovych.

The Polish Customs Service noted that they do not have the physical ability to check all customs declarations. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland assured about the start of an investigation based on the given facts.