Publication date
27_01_2021

Time
2002 to the present day

Photos and graphs

Shipments

A short visit to SUMAL or Timflow can show very clearly that these healthy green trees are illegally cut. A visit to the affected forest can prove that the logging is made chaotically, with no responsibility assumed

Info graphs

Videos

in English



in German



in German (EN subtitles)



in Romanian (EN subtitles)



in Romanian

PDFs

in English

• Gerald Schweighofer threatens Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta - leaked letter 2014
• EIA report “Stealing the last forest” 2015
• Background Dossier Romanian National Parks 2017
• Wrong transport papers leading to Schweighofer’s wood confiscation 2019 
• “Logging out” investigation 2019
• “PRIMOFARO - Inventory of Potential Primary and Old-Growth Forest Areas in Romania“ 2019
• Using long-range wireless sensor network to track the illegal cutting log 2020
• IKEA Hipocrisy 2021
• The importance, situation and future of Romania’s virgin forests 2021

in Romanian

• Dispariții de pe harta retrocedărilor 2006
• Raport Starea Padurilor 2010
• Contract de vânzare-cumpărare între Gheorge Ceteraș si Silvirom 2011
• Examinare preliminară pe piaţa comercializării masei lemnoase cu destinaţia lemn de foc 2018
• Serviciul de Telecomunicații Speciale către Ministrul Apelor și Pădurilor Ioan Deneș 2018
• Scrisoare de la trei directori ai Inventarului Forestier Național către Ministrul Deneș 2018
• Rezultate IFN din Ciclul 2 care indică erori majore de eșantionare (2013-2018)
• Raportul privind starea pădurilor, direcția politici și strategii în silvicultură 2019
• Ministerul Justiției către Ioan Deneș referitor la înființarea Gărzilor Forestiere 2019
• Schweighofer Holzindustrie (HS Timber) la Tribunalul Alba 2020
• Catalog păduri virgine și cvasivirgine 2021
• Pădurile virgine în inima Europei. Importanța, situația curentă și viitorul pădurilor virgine ale României 2021

Transcript

“Three solutions to stop timber theft” ⁴³

Problem #1
In Romania, the companies who are buying wood, have the right to enter the forest and cut it themselves. So:
︎︎︎ private companies + the foresters = bigger quantity of wood than what is allowed gets cut.

Even if they cut only what they are allowed, Romanian state is still loosing: before the auction, foresters calculate the quantity of wood on a certain forest plot by going in the forest and measuring the diameters and heights of the trees and they apply a formula from which results the wooden mass of the trees. This formula is based on a growth index that is older than 50 years. It also has a margin of error of up to 30% (to the detriment of the state), because the forest nowadays grows way faster than 50 years ago, due to pollution and global warming (which acts as fertilisers).

Solution #1.1
https://www.virtsilv.com/
VirtSilv is a software application for extracting data analytics about forest and individual trees, using scanners and LiDAR point cloud. It produces virtual models and measurements, that are extremely precise.

Solution #1.2
Many European countries solved the problem of estimation errors by prohibiting tree sale before cutting them. The wood is not bought from the forest, but from the warehouse, where, after the trees have been sectioned in 3-4 meter logs, its way easier to calculate the sold quantity.

Problem #2
The tree marking system, before cutting them. For example, a company buys the exploitation right for a quantity value of 500 trees. Before starting the operation, assigned foresters enter the forest and marks with a special forestry hammer the trees that are later allowed to be cut. The procedure is rudimentary and difficult to control as such a device can be used to mark an infinite number of trees. In this way, the company can negotiate (with a generous bribe) with the foresters an extra 500 trees.

Solution #2
https://simtrona.si/EN/innovation.php
There is an easy fix for this issue too. Globally, there are several techniques through which every tree receives a kind of personal numeric code by implanting a customised cellulose nail in the trunk. With a smart phone you can scan the nail codes and keep the real evidence of each tree in the forest. The app developed for this technology provides instant information about the tree's plot, age, species and growth rate. The code and all the information will appear in the logging and transport documents, thus eliminating the possibility of an illegal deal between the forester and the logging companies.
This technology does not affect the tree and it is fairly cheap.

Problem #3
The way in which shipments are authorised. For example, a company buys the exploitation right for a given quantity of wood. For each transport carried out, such as a truck loaded with 20 cubic metres, the company receives a transport notice with a minimum validity of 6 hours. This is often enough time for the company to carry out several shipments under the same notice. When they don't carry out more than one shipment, they overload the trucks.

Solution #3
https://www.cind.se/timber-industry
Installation of surveillance cameras on the country's main forest roads to make sure there is only one shipment for each notice. It might seem as a huge financial investment, but there are not so many roads on which most of the wood in the country is transported. The basic surveillance cameras are not very efficient with the overloading issue, but in the West there are surveillance cameras can automatically scanning lorries loaded with wood moving on public roads. The same system calculates the precise weight of each load.

Research

Emergency Ordinance #71 of 2002 gave by Adrian Năstase (prime minister at the time) from which HS group had a lot to gain. In this way they received the "pass" to cut as much as they want, from wherever they want; through three contracts concluded with Romsilva for a period of 10 years, they received the right to exploit around one million cubic meters of wood, annually. -2002 ¹

« The Romanian Ministry of Justice has accused Dragos Lipan Secu of accepting bribes and laundering money while he was employed as a contractor for Scolopax, a Harvard-owned timber company in Romania. » /2014 ²

Connexion between Gerald Schweighofer, Andreas Huber and Klaus Iohannis (president of Romania) /2015-2016 ^3,4,5

« Suspicion that several operators provided wood resulted from illegal logging activities. Inaccuracies were also found in: ''the reception and registration of wood''; ''receiving wood without being reported to the national Control and Tracking Wood Source system (SUMAL)''; ''the existence of wood without documents of provenance''; ''differences between quantities of wood officially registered in company's accounting documents and received quantities of wood'' » /2015 ⁶

« Since 2012, Alredia, Lacul Codrilor and Maranatha (logging companies owned by Sorin Beniamin Docea) have borrowed €3.3 million from the bank, for which they have secured "the entire commercial relationship with Schweighofer" and three contracts with the Austrians. History repeated itself in 2014, when Alredia borrowed another 5.4 million lei from the bank and secured it with four contracts signed with Schweighofer and another four with Kronospan. The partnership is well established, says the businessman […] When Docea's companies run out of cash but have to bid on tenders, Schweighofer helps them out with "an advance"

[…] the investigations that targeted the directors of RG Holz Company. The incident in April 2011, when a timber-laden forestry train travelling along the Vaser Valley was stopped for inspection, is well known. Neither the train driver nor the company's manager could show the documents of origin for 200 cubic metres of logs, worth €10.000, in 15 wagons. The timber was confiscated and the mayor's company was fined one hundred thousand lei (~ € 20.000). Ironically, the confiscated timber remained in the custody of RG Holz Company on the grounds that the Vișeu de Sus Forestry Office has no storage space. Only a few days later, in a new auction, the wood in question was awarded to Vasile Coman's company.”

Since 2004 (until 2015), Schweighofer has converted around 80,000 hectares of forest into lumber as its production capacity has increased. That's about three and a half times the area of Bucharest. Over the next 20 years, and with an additional mill recently built in Reci, Schweighofer alone would have the capacity to swallow another 320 thousand hectares. That's all the area of timber legally harvested in the same period of time by all the companies now present in the market. At the same rate of log purchases, in just 30 years, about 22 percent of Romania's total softwood forest could disappear because Schweighofer suppliers are encouraged to cut massively to cover the production capacity of a single corporation. » /2015 ⁷

« [...] a forest spread over 5000 hectares in Buzău county [...] Not only the retrocession was a quick one, but also the sale of the property [...] in February 2011, Ceteraș bought the litigious rights for the land, three months later, in May, he was put in possession and 20 days later, on 15 June 2011, he sold the thousands of hectares for 21.7 million euros to SRN Silvirom Nawaro GMBH. Silvirom is 99.95% controlled by a Hamburg-based company, part of the German Nordcapital concern. This is an investment fund controlled by Erck Rickmers, a well-known businessman in Germany and a former member of the Hamburg parliament on the Socialist side. » /2015 ⁸

« Following the latest acquisition, IKEA controls 46,700 hectares of forests in Romania. IRI Forest Management said that it had finished its first afforestation campaign in February, planting over 1 milion seedlings in 10 counties across Romania. » /2016 ⁹

« Starting in 2004, Harvard bought more than about 33,000 hectares of forest land […] through local intermediaries that Romanian prosecutors have since charged with corruption and organized crime activities or who are under investigation. The deal between Harvard and IKEA also followed an unusually complex route and was facilitated by another group of Swedish and Luxembourg based companies connected to, or controlled by, the American university.

[…] After 1989, new laws in the post-Communist Romania allowed former owners and their relatives to seek restitution for their lost properties. Unfortunately, these same laws created opportunities for fraud. Crooked businessmen and dirty politicians seized the moment, forging documents and claiming forests that had never belonged to them or to their ancestors. In many cases, fake relatives armed with piles of forged paperwork claimed some of the last standing old-growth forests in Europe and quickly sold them to foreign companies who poured tens of millions of dollars into such deals hoping for great returns. » /2016 ¹⁰

« Schweighofer […] The mill we were at, one of the biggest of its kind in the country, supplies processors and retailers around the world, including some of Europe's largest DIY stores like Hornbach in Germany, Baumax (Austria / Germany), and Bricostore (owned by UK-based Kingfisher, who also own B&Q).

[…] Forests owned and administered privately were taken into state ownership under communism and, following the revolution, legislation was enacted to return land to prior owners. A lawyer we spoke to explained that the restitution process was implemented chaotically and in many cases abusively, including granting ownership of land to interest groups with no legitimate claim. In tandem with endemic corruption this created the conditions for widespread illegal logging on disputed land. He told us aggrieved claimants were often intimidated, narrating stories of beatings,arson,dynamite and bribery, including being offered money himself to turn a blind eye to a case of illegal restitution.

[…] a former police officer we interviewed about a case involving a different company said he'd been called a couple of hours before our meeting by someone who threatened him and his family if he spoke to the 'foreign journalists' in town. How did they know? Was our fixer's phone tapped?

[…] A leaked letter to the Romanian Prime Minister from Schweighofer's CEO contained the hint that if changes were made to the Forest Code that were unfavourable to the company, it would "harm the bilateral investment treaty between Austria and Romania".

[…] A bonus system operates for delivering over-quota, and although Schweighofer stress that this must only apply to legal wood, the financial incentive to launder additional illegal wood into the mix remains. Numerous sources told us that mixing legitimate and illegitimate wood was a very common practice. » /2016 ¹¹

« The accusations have been sounding for months, and they weigh heavily. Schweighofer is said to encourage his timber suppliers to engage in illegal logging on a grand scale. He is said to look the other way when illegal timber passes through the factory gates. He is said to be responsible for logging in nature reserves. "His whole business model is about illegal logging," says Alexander Bismarck, an environmentalist with the U.S. Environmental Investigation Agency.

[…] Câmpuşel, a so-called Natura 2000 protected area, has been owned by Schweighofer since 2005, as have 18 other forests in Romania. A study from the same year, conducted by a Romanian forest research institute and the Dutch Society for Nature Conservation, defines the area as primeval forest. According to the forestry law, these are to be "strictly protected." Nevertheless, Schweighofer is having trees cut down here. » /2016 ¹²

Acres of the national park stripped bare by illegal logging /2017 ¹³

« In April 2017, the HS Timber Group implemented the GPS system Timflow, which is unique in the European timber industry, for transparent tracing of log deliveries in Romania. This core element of the measures the company is implementing to combat illegal logging in Romania enables seamless monitoring of the transport route from the loading place to the factory gate. The information collected, including GPS data and photos of the consignments, can be viewed by the general public at www.timflow.com» /2017 ¹⁴  E.N.: The issue with this system is that it does not include what happens in the forest (the techniques used to mark the trees and the fact that more trees are cut than what is initially auctioned) before the route starts.

« The Austrian timber company is partly to blame for illegal logging, clearing of virgin forests is also on its account, and Schweighofer is even responsible for the extinction of brown bears in the Romanian primeval forests. » -2017 ¹⁵

« Gheorghe Marin, head of National Forest Inventory: the annual loss of wood amounts to 38.6 million cubic metres. That's 20 million more than the authorities guarantee is legally logged. » /2019 ¹⁶

« In no country does the forest authority carry out its own inventory. It has to be done by an independent institution, a research institute like we are, or a university, like in Sweden, not by the Ministry (of Water and Forests, in Romania), because that would mean that I control myself. » /2019 ¹⁷

« In 2018 Schweighofer has sold all its forest areas in Romania to Swedish GreenGold Group. They sold local subsidiary Cascade Empire, which owns 14,283 hectares of woodland in Hunedoara, Gorj, Valcea, Prahova, Buzau, Neamt and Suceava counties, bought between 2003 and 2011, as well as the forest management unit Ocolul Silvic Cascade Empire. The value of the transaction was not disclosed, but Ziarul Financiar estimates it at around EUR 90 million [...] Some of the forest acquisitions made by Cascade Empire are also controversial as some of the people involved in these transactions were later convicted for having those wood areas illegally retrocesed. » /2018 ¹⁸

« Forest ranger Liviu Pop was out investigating illegal logging in Maramures, in the northwestern region of the country, when he was shot dead. His death came shortly after that of Raducu Gorcioaia, who was murdered in the forest district of Pascani earlier in October. […] 366,000 hectares of Romanian forest was illegally logged between 1990 and 2011. In recent years there has been widespread logging even within Natura 4 2000 sites, which should be protected by EU law » /2019 ¹⁹

« It has counted 16 attacks on its forestry workers this year alone. The head of the Silva Trade Union Federation, Silviu Geana, complains that rangers are unable to defend themselves and six rangers have now lost their lives in recent years. » /2019 ²⁰

« In the past few years, six forestry workers have been killed and more than 650 incidents have been registered, including physical assaults, death threats and destruction of property » /2019 ²¹

« Between 2013 and 2018, logging exceeded the allowances in the country’s forest management plans by more than 20 million cubic metres of wood per year, according to a government report leaked by Agent Green. Moreover, the origin of over two-fifths of Romanian timber is unknown, according to research carried out by the EU. » /2019 ²²

« Gabriel Schwaderer, Executive Director of EuroNatur said: “If the breach of EU legislation in Romania is allowed to continue without any consequences, the whole Natura 2000 system is weakened. The ongoing nature conservation drama in Romania is one of the most pressing environmental crises in Europe, yet it is still largely unrecognised.

Around 300,000 hectares of Romanian woods are listed as Natura 2000 sites.Many protected animals such as large carnivores, black stork, owls, woodpeckers, bats and beetles depend on them for survival. » /2019 ²³

« “Over the last 12 years we’ve lost close to 140,000 hectares of pristine, virgin forests and the violence will probably continue,” says Cirprian Galusca, Greenpeace Romania’s forest campaign coordinator. » /2019 ²⁴ (E.N.: ~280 thousands football fields)

« In October Crețu Ionuț, a ranger in a privately owned forest in central Romania, was threatened by a group of men logging on a neighbouring plot who thought he was spying on them. “They tried to drag me out of the car and told me they would burn my house down and kill my family” he said. Since then he has begun carrying a weapon, and he tries to patrol with a partner rather than alone. Many rangers have similar stories.

[…] Beyond the threats, violence and corruption, what is at stake is the sustainability of the forest itself. Romania’s forests contain 30% of all large carnivores in Europe, with big populations of bears, wolves and lynx. The ancient pedigree of the forests makes them particularly valuable.

[…] There was one shipment where we had permission to cut 400 cubic metres, and we actually cut 2,400. The owners were hand in hand with the local authorities and the foresters. Everybody got a cut” said Oblezniuc.

[…] But Alexe grimaced and sighed when asked whether he had the tools to make a real difference. After all, stopping illegal logging is not just about identifying a few criminal bosses. The network sustains whole communities, with people on each level taking their own cut, from state forestry bosses to local rangers, right down to impoverished villagers with a horse and cart, who gain cheaper firewood for their homes in winter. » /2020 ²⁵

« Thomas Waitz and Gabriel Paun did also trace a wood truck from the Natura 2000 Ținutul Pădurenilor site to the factory of Austrian chipboard company Kronospan in Sebeș. Kronospan, the world’s largest chipboard producer, claims on the respective website: “We ensure that suppliers do not use wood from national parks, natural preserves, virgin forests and other conservation areas.” This is apparently in severe contradiction to the recent observations. The yard of Kronospan factory is filled with logs from large trees, mainly beech. » /2020 ²⁶

« The Evergreen Private Foundation holds stakes in multiple companies, mainly in the real estate, forestry and wood processing industries. The role of the Foundation is to strategically manage and to further develop these subsidiaries in a sustainable way. » ²⁷ (E.D.: They have exactly the same address as HS timber group's hq because « HS Timber Group GmbH is a company of the ‘Evergreen Privatstiftung' » /2020 ²⁸

« […] There is also the Kronospan company. With an annual turnover of more than two billion euros, it is the world’s biggest manufacturer of wood-based panels, numbering Ikea among its customers. Together with their Swiss sister company, Swiss Krono, the Kaindls are one of the main players in the Carpathians as a whole.

[…] a busy road, with articulated lorries laden with enormous tree trunks thundering by. They’re heading for the gates of Kronospan. From its chimneys, dense clouds of smoke rise into the sky. This is where the company produces formaldehyde, used for gluing the chipboard. Above a certain concentration, the chemical is classified by the WHO as a carcinogen.

[…] Kronospan was allowed to build its factory, which produces 30,000 tonnes of formaldehyde every year, without any kind of environmental impact assessment. When Romania was taken to the EU Court of Justice for this breach, it felt at first like a partial victory. But then Kronospan announced it was planning to double its formaldehyde production in Sebeș: “The air was already terrible back then, and we went back onto the streets. We filed lawsuits and demanded independent measurements.

[…] What Haţegan is describing is the exhausting battle of ordinary citizens against a global concern that has the backing of local politicians. She shows us documents from the district hospital. These seem to show there has been a surge in the number of respiratory complaints and that a large proportion of local residents are affected. Further investigations revealed that Sebeș also has more cancer cases than the district average.

[…] Kronospan claim they don’t use any timber from virgin forests or protected areas, but when I look at this storage yard I am extremely suspicious. One lorry driver just told me that the big beeches on his truck have come from the Tarcu mountains – a Natura 2000 protected area.

[…] classified Romanian forest inventory and show that some 38.6 million cubic metres of timber was taken from the forests between 2014 and 2018. The quantity legally permitted under forest utilisation plans was just 18 million cubic metres. This means that the total amount felled was twice the legal limit and that 20 million cubic metres of it was what can only be called mafia timber.

[…] Asked about the role played by the Austrian companies in this system, he finds it hard to believe their assurances. “They’re the ones pumping the money into this system. They couldn’t stop it now, even if they wanted to. But these companies knew what was going on here when they came to Romania.”

[…] At the beginning of January 2018 the Romanian forestry minister, Doina Pană, suddenly resigned out of the blue. Until then she had been trying to take rigorous action against the illegal logging trade. It was said she had suddenly fallen ill, but later the former minister explained how, in the autumn of 2017, she had suddenly felt more and more unwell, had palpitations, how the doctors had been at a loss to explain it. It was only after her resignation that comprehensive tests and a toxicological report delivered an incredible verdict: the minister had probably been poisoned with high doses of mercury over a long period of time.

[…] the timber is running out. Schweighofer claims it is already having to import more than half the timber it needs, and puts the blame on Romanian bureaucracy. Activists, however, suspect that the real reason is that media pressure, stricter legal regulation and the ongoing police investigations are making it harder for Schweighofer to go on obtaining timber from various sources. At all events, the raw material is now being imported in large quantities from countries such as Slovakia or the Czech Republic, for example.

“Everything here is connected to everything else. Every fallen tree, every branch and every fungus has its own function within a complex ecosystem. The mighty ancient trees absorb huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so they stabilise our climate. Here in the Carpathians they are the green lungs of Europe” Schickhofer explains. » /2020 ²⁹

« The latest IFN evaluation showed that close to 20 million cubic metres of wood has disappeared on average every year from the country’s forests. This figure, representing the annual volume of timber illegally logged, exceeds the volume of legally extracted wood every year legally, which is 18.5 million cubic metres. » /2020 ³⁰

«The images show hundreds of giant and centuries old methuselah trees, cut down in protected areas and loaded on trucks every single day. This digital ‘habitat tree funeral’ provides realtime “live” reporting of one of the biggest nature destruction scandals in the EU.[…] As not all truck transports on the website are illustrated with photographs and illegal logging transports have no entry on the Forest Inspector website at all, the tragedy in the vanishing natural forests of Romania is most likely even bigger. » /2021 ³¹

« Kronospan did not respond on attacks against journalists investigating illegal logging » /2021 ³²

« While filming a new documentary on illegal deforestation in Romania, filmmaker and journalist Mihai Dragolea, environmental activist Tiberiu Bosutar, and a third companion, Radu Mocanu, were brutally beaten by a group of twenty men. The attack took place in a forest in Cosna, Suceava County, and was carried out with axes and forks. As well as being critically beaten, Dragolea’s equipment was destroyed, as well as field notes and records. “Among the attackers were the forestry engineer and the owner of the forest. I couldn’t have any dialogue with them. They only shouted: I will kill you!, I will kill you!”, Mihai Dragolea told the Romanian newspaper Digi24 » /2021 ³³

« The Austrian companies HS Timber Production (formerly Holzindustrie Schweighofer), Kronospan and Egger, all with activities on the Romanian wood market, were fined, along with other companies, for forming a cartel. » /2021 ³⁴

« HolzindustrieSchweighofer is left without the 3,500 cubic meters of wood confiscated in November 2019 by a final decision of the Alba Court, in which the company is accused of intentionally violating wood traceability legislation.

[…] In November 2019, the Forestry Guard in Bucharest and the IGPR seized 68 containers loaded with 3500 cubic meters of timber due to discrepancies between secondary permits and export documents. The timber was coming from Schweighofer Sebeș and Suceava mills and was supposed to go to companies in Japan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The authorities discovered that the customs declarations listed companies in Japan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia under consignee, while the accompanying notes for the consignee timber listed a company based in Austria. Although Schweighofer has in the past exported directly to Asia and the Middle East, for this shipment it preferred to pass the goods through a Schweighofer group company, Anna Bauthen GmbH, based in Austria. » /2021 ³⁵

Short list of public names of crooks and few of the companies involved

Dragoș Lipan (mediator), Robert Eler (forest broker), Kiss Lajos (economic director), Sorin Chiorescu (CEO GreenGold), Jonas Jacobsson (chief analyst GreenGold), Mihai Ghiurău (businessman), Iulian Roman (forest seller), Sorin Beniamin Docea (businessman), Adam Crăciunescu (chief Romsilva), Grațiela Gavrilescu (ex minister of Environment), Dan Bancu (managing director Schweighofer Baco), Viorel Crainic (mayor of Beliș), Liviu Holonec (manager of the forest range in Beliș), Karl Schmid (Schweighofer official), Călin Bâlc (chief forest district), Dorel Oros (director of Cluj's forest administration), Ioan Morar (former director forest administration Cluj), Napocamin and Romproduct Serv. (owned by former Minister of Interior, Ioan Rus and Ioan Bene, businessman), Gicu / Gheorghe Deaconeasa (former director forest administration Voineasa), Dobrin Gheorghe (mayor Voineasa), Crețan Georgeta (secretary Voineasa), Tomescu Ion (president of the Pociovaliștea Oblast), Basarabă Mircea (contractual partner and trustee of Cascade Empire), Petrulian Mihai Dan (certified forged documents to be in conformity with the originals), Păduraru Constantin (forester, former head of the Neamț County Service of the National Archives of Romania, received the falsified documents in the archives, subsequently issuing copies with the stamp of the National Archives), Traian Larionesi (businessman, owner Frasinul SRL), Ioan Ovidiu (police chief commissioner Mureş), Roberto Hasnăş (chief of traffic police Bistriţa), Veronica Hasnăş (wife), Lucia Varga (ex-minister of Environment), Viorel Ghelasă (forestry department director Bacău), Ciprian Pahonțu (personal adviser for Romsilva's director), Gerald Schweighofer, Frank Aigner, Jürgen Bergner, Christian Hörburger, Martin Louda (managing directors), Traian Mariş (former director of the Forestry Department Cluj), Valentin Maris (forester), Voicu Tomoș (former forester at Măguri Răcătău, Cluj), Nemeth Judith Julia (pretended chief architect), Nemeth Csaba Iosif (architect), Olosz Gergely (former UDRM senator), Tamás Sándor (President of CJ Covansa), Mircea Dușa (owner of the timber mafia in Toplița, Harghita, Minister of Defence), Ioan Deneș (Minister for Water and Forests), Gheorghe Mihăilescu (director Romsilva), Emil Iugan (president MisGrup, connected to Silvania International and the "Ursul Brun" hunting association), Ciprian Muscă (president of Romanian Foresters Association), Cătălin Tobescu (former advisor to the Minister of Water and Forests and director of Fordaq Romania, online timber exchange in Romania), Ioan Deneș (Minister of Water and Forests), Costel Alexe (Minister for the Environment), Teodor Țigan (director Romsilva), George Mierliță (director Romsilva), Ovidiu Badea (director general of the National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry "Marin Drăcea"), Viorel Hrebenciuc (politician and statistician), Ilie Sârbu (senator), Gheorghe Ivan (head of the forestry department Bistrita-Nasaud), Karl Schmidt (a Schweighofer director), Nichifor Tofan (director of Schweighofer's plant Rădăuți) and Leonte Tofan (brother), Boca Samoilă and Pîțu Vasile (administrator GVC Computers, Suceava and George Tofan Grup), Gheorghe Flutur (president of Suceava County Council, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, former head of the forestry directorate Suceava), Emil Nistor (businessman) and Emil Nistor Jr. (son), Maria Botiz (owner Marena Silva), Gabriel Florin Armean and wife Simona Carmen (owners Forest Land SRL), Vasile Coman (mayor Vișeu and owner RG Holz Company, Conrep SA and MarWood International), Ion Tomoioagă (shareholder Novaartis), Pavel Horj (former MP and former head of the Maramureș Forestry Directorate), Adrian Filip (Former president of PSD Vișeu de Sus, current Pro Romania county councillor), Dumitru Covîză (owner Pomișorul), Ion Vepreciuc (owner Expolvip), Dumitru Vepreciuc (owner Marduvep), Ioan Chindriș (owner Chindriș Ioan Explo), Blaga Ioan (owner Blaga Explo SRL), Filip Irina Violeta (owner VTP Filip 98 SRL), Ileana and Simion Bumbea (owners Simicom), Leopold Laszlo and Szasz Kinga (owners Farkashajsza SRL), Gavril Viorel Pardău (owner Adenis Pard), Radu Buzilă (owner Ciador Beauty Center), Gheorghe Ceteraș (owner Silvirom Timber Gmbh), Erck Rickmers (businessman, owner of Nordcapital), Ion Iliescu (president of Romania, part of Securitate and head of many crimes against humanity), Cătălin Tobescu (President of the ProLemn Association, Vice-President of Nostra Silva), Costel Girigan (head of Suceava Forest Guard), Lucian Bode (Minister of the Interior), Barna Tánczos (Minister of Environment, Water and Forests), Petru Drob (forestry inspector Suceava), Florin Vasile Cîțu (Prime Minister), Dănuț Ungureanu (forest ranger OS Dealu Negru), Ionel Nacu (owner Fenster Dor SRL Stulpicani logging company), Mugurel Ion Nacu (Ionel's father, forest ranger inspector Suceava), Dănuț Pintea (forest ranger engineer Dealu Negru), Rareș Moga (director forest ranger Dealu Negru), Ciprian Cihoski (forest owner Fălticeni), Constantin Barna Nistor (director forest ranger Fălticeni), Constantin Costică Nicolaievici (forester), Petru Marișca (forester), Cezar Pavăl (forest ranger engineer Fălticeni), Lucian Pîslaru (forest technician), Cezar Ungureanu (forest ranger engineer Fălticeni),  Mihail Dorin Roșca (forester), Mioara Ioana Miron-Pescariu (forester), Remus Lazăr (forester), Gheorghe Blanariu (forester), Vasile Florescu (owner Turculeț SRL logging company), Mihai Gășpărel (chief forestry inspector Suceava, head of the Suceava Forest Guard), Mihai Nacu (forestry inspector Suceava), Georgel Zlei (chief forestry inspector Moldovița), Traian Iliesi (mayor Moldovița), Simion Chiruț (PNL mayor advisor at Frumosu city hall and logging company owner), Ilie Negură (owner of big logging company adn gater in Frumosu), Gelu Puiu (chief forester Vama), Virgil Saghin (mayor Vatra Moldoviței and owner logging business), Constantinescu Otcu Mihai (mayor Sadova and owner logging business), Vilcan Alexandru-Vasile and Vilcan Mirela-Victoria (owners RO Lemn SRL), Cosmin Dan (chief forestry Răstolița), Alexandru Toncean (chief district 2 Răstolița), Lucian Paşcan (chief district 3 Răstolița), Romeo Cif (chief district 2 Răstolița), Josif Kis (mayor Zagon, controlling private forest district Zagon and only associate of SC Intertrans SRL Păpăuți, SC Decan Forest SRL Zagon, SC Titi Mari SRL Zagon, SC Bodorin Wood SRL Zagon, SC Duțu Impex SRL Păpăuți, SC Producție Vânzare Nely SRL Zagon), Istvan Fodor (mayor Bodoc, controlling private forest district Bodoc), Mihai Goțiu (senator USR, Save Romania Union), Daniel Nagy (director of the control service of Forest Guard Brașov), Florin Cotici (adviser in the Forest Guard Brașov), Levente Porzolt (head of Private Forestry distric Zagon), Arpad Tamas Balint and Istvan (employees SC Julius Meinl România SRL), Ferec Levente Gyorgy (administrator SC SCY Distrib SRL Sfântu Gheorghe), Csaba Denes (priest Ilieni), Calnic, Janos Szekely (forester), Petru Teodoran (owner Petrycris SRL logging company), Mihail Pop (forester Gurghiu), Dan Răzvan (forestry engineer district Gurghiu), Raul Moldovan (forester Gurghiu), Florin Farcaș (owner Lupu Trans SRL), Ovidiu Chiorean (chief forestry district Gurghiu), Ionuț Boar (forestry engineer Romsilva), Daniel-Constantin Coroamă (state secretary ministry of Water and Forests, forestry engineer, forest guard Suceava, head of the territorial forestry and hunting inspectorate Suceava), Mirela Adomnicăi (county prefect Suceava), Vesa Vasile (head of forest district Someșul Rece), Ioan Bâlc, Nicolae Toader, Gavriel Toader, Simion Safta, Voicu Tomol, Valentin Mariș, Violin Mariș, Traian Balc, Ardelean Roșu (foresters), Viorel Matiș (head of forest district Beliș), Traian Dobrea (head of forest district Beliș), Vasile Vușcan (head of forest district Huedin), Marin Moldovan (head of forest district Turda), Vasile Lup (head of forest district Turda), Dorin Ciucă (deputy director Forestry Directorate Cluj), Alina But (economic director Forestry Directorate Cluj), Călin Bâlc (chief district), Emil Boc (Prime Minister Romania), Florin Stamatian (prefect Cluj), Ioan Deac (police commissioner), Horj Pavel (forestry director Maramureș), Alexandru Lefter (Head of Territorial Inspectorate of Forestry and Hunting Focșani), Paul Beganu (prefect Buzău), Istvan Zsigmond, Ervin Mocan, Sandor Tamas, Ilona Szabo, Ladislau Francisc Nagy (other crooks), PDL (Democrat Liberal Party), PSD (Social Democrat Party), PNL (National Liberal Party), USR (Save Romania Union), IKEA, GreenGold, Schweighofer Holzindustrie (HS Timber), Egger, Kronospan, Romsilva, SC Din Forest SRL Caşva, SC Din Forest SRL, SC Darion SRL, SC Danborcom SRL Jabeniţa, SC Radan Serv SRL Hodac, SC Alfadin SRL Reghin, Frasinul SRL Anieş, SC Montana Forest SRL Anieş, SC Radan Serv SRL, SC Nel Dor SRL Certeze, SC Lupu Trans SRL Reghin, SC Toexfor SRL Ungheni, SC Grimavas SRL Meştera, SC Rubus Carpatica SRL, SC K&M Import-Export SRL Calnic, Nordcapital, Kaindl family, Swiss Krono, Krono Group Switzerland, Kronochem, Kronospan Szczecinek, Kronospan Mielec, Pfleiderer Group, Pfleiderer Wieruszów, Peter Kaindl, Alexander Lukashenko (president Belarus), Rustem Khamitov (president  Bashkir), Raiffeisen International Bank etc. ^{34 - 42}

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