As a result of operative-searching and investigative activities carried out within the framework of two criminal cases, representatives of the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, in the month of April of 2023, on the facts of bribe taking, two employees of the Imereti and Samtskhe-Javakheti forestry service of the LEPL “National Forestry Agency” were detained.

Investigation determined that the accused persons, in order to receive illegal material benefits, in exchange for the removal and extraction of a fertile layer of forest fund in the area of their supervision, demanded and received bribes from citizens, at which time they were exposed. 

The mentioned cases are being investigated under the first part of Article 338 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which envisages imprisonment from 6 to 9 years.

In coordination with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, relevant measures are being continued, in order to identify and expose other persons involved in the mentioned crime.