Under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Prosecutor General, a scheme for the illegal use of radioactively contaminated lands has been uncovered in Zhytomyr region.

It has been established that in 2021, the village head, in collusion with a land surveyor and the heads of four enterprises, provided them with 1790 hectares of land in a zone of radioactive contamination.

Despite the fact that these lands belong to the zone of unconditional resettlement of the area affected by radioactive contamination as a result of the Chernobyl disaster and can only be managed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the village head entered into preliminary lease agreements with acceptance-transfer acts. Subsequently, the farming enterprises used the radioactively contaminated plots for growing agricultural crops, harvesting, and selling them, including to bread factories.

The damage caused to the state in 2021 was estimated by experts at over 4.9 million UAH.

At the same time, the director of one of the companies created an organized group, which included the head of another enterprise and a deputy of one of the village councils. On the illegally occupied plots, they grew 364.77 tons of sunflower worth over 6.6 million UAH, which they illegally transported outside the resettlement zone and sold on the domestic market.

The village head of one of the united territorial communities in the region, the land surveyor of the village council, and three directors of private enterprises have been notified of suspicion of illegal occupation of land plots and abuse of office (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 197-1, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Suspicions have also been announced against the directors of two companies and a former deputy of the village council for violating radiation safety regime requirements, misappropriation of property, and legalization of property obtained by criminal means (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 3 of Article 209, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 267-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The issue of choosing preventive measures for the suspects and imposing a seizure on property to ensure further compensation for the damage caused to the state is being resolved.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Directorate of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the Department for Activities Related to Hazardous Materials of the National Police of Ukraine.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a court verdict.