A number of ecologists said the forests in Moldova are cut illegally and mercilessly, the wood is sold on the black market and the money goes into officials’ pockets. In a news conference at IPN, Alecu Renita, chairman of the Ecologist Movement of Moldova, said that millions of lei are earned annually from the illegal sale of wood. According to him, the schemes were built under the Communist rule and continue to be used, IPN reports.

Alecu Renita said that since 2001, by 1 million lei is earned yearly by cutting century-old trees in the 25 forestry units of the State Agency “Moldsilva” and selling the wood. The schemes and instruments of the ‘forestry mafia’ weren’t liquidated. On the contrary, an increased number of individuals in conflict with the law were involved in them. “Hundreds and thousands of hectares of forests are destroyed,” said Alecu Renita.

He also said that earlier this week he paid a visit to the forests managed by the Edinet State Forestry Company, together with other persons. There they identified flagrant violations of the Forestry Code and serious economic and ecological damage caused to the state.
 
AVE Natura head Andrei Dumbraveanu, who also was on a visit to Edinet, said that immediately after he entered the forest, he was phoned by an MP and asked what the purpose of the visit was. He presumed that high-ranking persons are behind the illegal cutting of trees. Ignorant persons were named to manage the environment area so as to be able to launder more money.

According to the ecologists, an oak tree costs about 4,000-6,000 lei. These trees are cut for making doors, windows and other articles from their wood. “There is a whole black market behind,” said Andrei Dumbraveanu.

The head of the public association “Progresul Silvic” Alexei Palancean said that century-old trees are cut in the natural reserve “Codru” and in the protected areas in Naslavcea (Ocnita), Fetesti-Trica (Edinet), and Cernoleuca (Donduseni).

The ecologists asked the authorities to create a group of independent experts to assess the real state of affairs in the national forests and to determine the corruption level at “Moldsilva” Agency.