20 Facts About Orest Furdychko

Orest Ivanovych Furdychko is a Ukrainian forester and politician who served as People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 125th electoral district, located in Lviv Oblast, from 1998 to 2002.

Orest Furdychko was found guilty on 30 July 2021 and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.

Orest Ivanovych Furdychko was born on 10 October 1952 in the village of Strilbychi, in Ukraine's western Lviv Oblast.

Orest Furdychko studied at the Lviv Forestry Institute from 1970 to 1975, graduating with a specialisation in forestry engineering.

Orest Furdychko completed his thesis for a Candidate of Sciences degree in 1992, followed by his doctoral thesis in 1995.

Orest Furdychko was appointed as chief forester of the Lviv Oblast Forestry in 1989, being appointed general director the next year.

Orest Furdychko was one of 19 people awarded the title of Honoured Agricultural Worker of Ukraine by President Leonid Kuchma on 12 September 1996.

Orest Furdychko joined the Ukrainian Academy of Environmental Sciences in February 1993 and was active at the Western Scientific Centre in Lviv.

Orest Furdychko was first elected to the Lviv Oblast Council in 1990.

Orest Furdychko became chairman of the Oblast Council in April 1997.

Orest Furdychko subsequently resigned from the Oblast Council in April 1998.

Orest Furdychko was deputy chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of ecological policy.

Orest Furdychko's campaign was hit by a scandal after a local news outlet revealed that it had been funded by government tree plantations in Lviv Oblast.

Orest Furdychko defected from the Agrarian Party to the People's Democratic Party in May 1998, remaining as a party member until he joined Labour Ukraine in April 1999.

Newspaper Ukrainska Pravda claimed in 2012 that Orest Furdychko was an organised crime boss in his electoral district, with a local legend stating that he had a staff of 400 enforcers in the region.

Orest Furdychko was noted for his fierce rivalry with fellow forester Anatolii Deineka, a supporter of Our Ukraine who Furdychko accused of privatising forests to the benefit of his family.

Orest Furdychko was a candidate in the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election from Borys Oliynyk's coalition, but he was not elected.

Orest Furdychko was deputy Minister of Environmental Protection from 17 August 2004 to 18 May 2005, with a portfolio involving relations with the Verkhovna Rada.

Orest Furdychko was arrested by agents of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine in a sting operation on 30 December 2017, along with an accomplice.

Anti-corruption activist and lawyer Vadym Valko celebrated Orest Furdychko's sentencing as one of the most significant victories in the Ukrainian anti-corruption movement in 2021.