The Prime Minister of Georgia touched upon the illegal timber cuts at the Executive Government Meeting today and noted that amendments need to be drafted for the Criminal Code of Georgia, on the grounds of which sanctions will tighten towards this end.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, work on the referred Draft Law will commence in the nearest future.

“Several individuals approached me about the illegal timber cuts. These were very concrete discussions on specific regions and concrete timber cuts in forests. I have no facts or evidence and cannot say anything on this topic or whether these facts are real, though we need to pay maximum attention to this topic in any case to make sure that such potential offenses get prevented.

Otar Shamugia [Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture [MEPA] of Georgia] is not present at the Executive Government Meeting today and I will later have a communication with him on this topic. I wish the MEPA to pay maximum attention to this topic, along with the law-enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is a very grave crime. In general, illegal timber cuts, especially in high quantities, is a grave offense. If compared with other grave offenses, it is nonetheless, especially when strategic resources of our future generations and population of the country are depleting.

Therefore, we need maximum focus and a strict approach here as well. I believe that we should inter alia develop amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia, on the grounds of which sanctions will tighten on the high volume of illegal timber cuts and we will immediately start working on the Draft Law”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.