This is stated on the website of the department.
“It was established that from 2017 to September 2019, in the walnut-fishing zone ... of the Taishet forestry, instead of selective sanitary cutting, a clear-cut forest was carried out. As a result of illegal cutting of forest stands, the damage to the forest fund of the Russian Federation amounted to more than 70 million rubles, ”the statement said.
The materials of the prosecutor’s inspection were sent to the police, which opened a criminal case under part 3 of art. 260 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“Illegal felling of forest stands committed on a particularly large scale”).
Earlier, two criminal cases were instituted by the Irkutsk Customs regarding the smuggling of lumber in China on a large scale.
In November 2019, law enforcement authorities in Siberia detained two local residents suspected of large-scale smuggling of timber from Russia abroad.
In October 2019, Irkutsk Customs opened a criminal case on smuggling of lumber to Afghanistan.
On June 6, 2019, in Moscow, FSB officers detained Sergey Sheverda, Minister of the Forestry Complex of the Irkutsk Region. He is suspected of abuse of power. According to law enforcement agencies, he authorized illegal logging on an area of 120 hectares in the Tukolon nature reserve. The amount of damage is estimated at 748 million rubles.
Details are in the material RT.