Protecting business from unlawful actions of law enforcement agencies during martial law is a matter of national security
The Federation, together with other representatives of domestic business, with the assistance of the Business Ombudsman Council, held an informative meeting "Prosecutor's Office and Business: Dialogue on Legality" with Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Verbytskyi and employees of the Office's Criminal Policy and Investment Protection Department.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of solving the problem of law enforcement pressure on business, which has recently increased significantly. After all, it is domestic entrepreneurs who today ensure the continuous supply of goods and services, preserve and create jobs, provide humanitarian aid and generally do everything possible to bring Ukraine's victory in the war against the Russian aggressor closer.
This is what Dmytro Oliynyk, Chairman of the FEU Council, spoke about in his speech, emphasizing that the illegal actions of prosecutors and investigators during searches, seizures of funds and documents should be not only properly assessed, but also punished.
At the same time, in order to protect Article 42 of the Constitution of Ukraine ("Everyone shall have the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity not prohibited by law"), the Federation of Employers of Ukraine and the Manifesto 42 public union, with the involvement of experts from leading Ukrainian law firms, have developed two draft laws on amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, the texts of which Dmytro Oliynyk handed over to the Prosecutor General and the Business Ombudsman during the meeting for review and suggestions.
The draft laws, in particular, contain provisions prohibiting the initiation of criminal proceedings if they relate to commercial, civil, arbitration disputes in which the courts have not made a decision that has entered into force; closing criminal proceedings if no investigative action has been taken in the relevant pre-trial investigation for a certain period of time; prohibiting the seizure of company accounts in criminal proceedings on the grounds of criminal offenses against property and in the field of economic activity; mandatory audio and video recording of searches.
As a result of the discussion, it was decided to hold such meetings every three months under the coordination of the Business Ombudsman Office to discuss problems and proposals. "It would be a very good signal that would remove many "gray" areas that exist, for example, in the legislation regulating land issues, powers of law enforcement agencies in order to remove legal uncertainty," emphasized Andriy Kostin.
The FEU fully shares this position of the Prosecutor General's Office.
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