The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has declared suspicion against four former directors of the state-owned enterprise "Volynvuhillia", who from 2017 to 2022 caused damage to the environment in the amount of 1.17 billion hryvnias.
The investigation established that in 2018, the special permits of the State Geology and Subsoil Service of Ukraine for coal mining in two of the five mines of the enterprise expired, but the director ordered the employees to continue mining. Each of the following directors, according to the SBI, did the same: violated the law and harmed the environment.
Over four years, 132,400 tons of minerals were illegally mined at the mines of "Volynvuhillia", which were sold under current contracts of the state-owned enterprise. These are the conclusions of the engineering and environmental examination, confirmed by documents seized from the enterprise and regulatory authorities.
For such actions, four ex-directors of "Volynvuhillia" face imprisonment of up to six years under various parts of Art. 240 of the Criminal Code.
- In April, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office wrote that for the first time in the history of independent Ukraine, a trial for ecocide will be held. Two employees of the enterprise in Khmelnytskyi region are accused of poisoning the river. As the examination established, as a result of such actions in a radius of four kilometers from the discharge site, all living organisms died.