Initiating criminal and administrative proceedings under the same fact

Complainee: Customs of Dnipropetrovsk
Complaint in brief: On May 15, 2015, the BOC received a complaint from a company concerning simultaneous initiation of administrative and criminal proceedings against its Chief Executive Officer.
Due to the mistake of the Dnipropetrovsk Customs Office’s broker, the Complainant’s goods were confiscated and administrative proceedings initiated. Then a criminal case was initiated against Complainant although the administrative case was still ongoing. The company requested the BOC’s facilitation in resolving the matter.
Action taken: After reviewing the relevant customs law, the BOC sent a letter to the Customs of Dnipropetrovsk asking them to close the administrative case since the criminal proceedings were ongoing. However, the Customs’ investigator refused to do so since the criminal investigators had already confiscated all the documents used in the administrative case. The BOC recommended that Customs transfer the case to the local court and then prepared a letter to the State Fiscal Service requesting to investigate the actions of the stated Customs.
Results achieved: The BOC’s position is as follows: administrative proceedings should be closed if criminal proceedings are initiated under the same fact in order to avoid excessive pressure on business. The BOC monitors implementation of our recommendations. The deadline of implementing our recommendations is December 30, 2015.