Law enforcement officers have served nine charges in five regions of the country for the illegal extraction of over 450,000 cubic meters of minerals of national importance without special permits or in violation of their terms and validity periods, causing damages worth UAH 1.5 billion, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on Monday.
"We are talking about granite, gabbro, groundwater, and other natural resources. Among the suspects are heads of state and municipal enterprises, officials of state companies, a city mayor, an arbitration manager-liquidator of one of the enterprises, and a representative of private business," he wrote on Telegram.
In particular, the suspects illegally extracted more than 375,000 cubic meters of granite from a deposit.
"To achieve this, they carried out at least 12 blasting operations and caused more than UAH 1.255 billion in damages to the state," Kravchenko said.
In another instance, more than 60,000 cubic meters of groundwater were extracted without a special permit from 30 wells used for centralized water supply to community residents, causing more than UAH 12.6 million in damages.
According to Kravchenko, the participants in the schemes also embezzled state property and abused their official positions, using state equipment for the illegal extraction.
