The Investigative Committee for the Irkutsk region could not find officials to hold responsible for ineffective control of the ermine moth and misuse of budget funds. Andrey Bunev said that in 2013 and 2014 the treatment was carried out with violations, the chemicals were used at the wrong time and at unsuitable temperatures, and the tree counts were inconsistent. He said the review still had an effect, the mistakes were examined in detail, and in 2015 the fight against the moth was organized more correctly.
The Investigative Committee of Russia for the Irkutsk Region was unable to find in Irkutsk any officials who could be held liable under Article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Negligence” for the ineffective fight against the ermine moth and the wasteful spending of budget funds.- There is a certain technology for dealing with the ermine moth, - says the head of the law enforcement agency, Andrey Bunev. - There are documents on how the preparations should be applied properly, and at what temperature. And on the days when the treatment was carried out, the temperature, according to the hydrometeorological center, was significantly lower than required. But the representative of the organization that carried out the treatment wrote memos saying that the temperature was normal. As a result, officials were misled. And the person who prepared that memo is not an official, so he cannot be held liable for negligence. It makes sense to poison the pupa of the ermine moth during a specific period of its development. And that period is quite short. At all other stages of development, the preparation is ineffective. These deadlines were not observed. All the initial actions aimed at combating the ermine moth were done incorrectly. But the documents do not give us the opportunity to bring officials to criminal liability for negligence, since they say: “We were misled.” And those who misled them are not officials, so they are not subject to liability.
According to the head of the investigative department, in 2013 and 2014 senseless actions were carried out, and money was spent thoughtlessly. They were even unable to correctly count the number of trees in Irkutsk; five groups that were given such a task counted differently. And then budget money was allocated based on their calculations. “But again, no one can be held accountable, because the counting was done by non-officials,” Andrey Bunev said.
But he is sure that the Investigative Committee of Russia’s inspection still had a powerful preventive effect.
- We submitted an extensive report in which we laid out all the mistakes. The press is already calling me a butterfly specialist. I am not a butterfly specialist; all the conclusions were based on the findings of leading expert institutions. Biological agents can be used in the spring, and the moth can be washed away together with the webbing. Washing is almost more effective than treatment with preparations. After washing, the caterpillars will not return to the tree. Look, in 2015 we do not see such an infestation of moths, although this year tens of times less money was allocated for treatment. This year scientists got involved, said how to do it properly, and the city administration carried out this work.