In three years investigators returned property

Сomplainee: Darnytsya Police Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv City (Darnytsya National Police)
Complaint in brief: The Council received a complaint from a meat producer from the capital city. The enterprise complained that investigators did not return a property seized during a search earlier in 2017. The Council learned that the complainant’s company director was a founder of the other enterprise some time ago. Due to a possible tax evasion of that enterprise’s officials  a criminal proceeding was opened. However, it is interesting that the investigators conducted the search in the complainant’s office and seized computer equipment, a mobile phone and documents. The investigators did not return the seized property for three years. The complainant and his lawyer could not return the property on their own. The last hope of the meat producer was to turn to the Business Ombudsman Council for help.
Actions taken: The investigator of the Council analysed the case file and acknowledged the complaint was substantiated. The Council recommended Darnytsia National Police to immediately return the property seized from the complainant’s office. In the letter to law enforcers the investigator of the Council reminded of a reasonable timeframe for a criminal proceeding: even if at the time of the property seizure there were allegations about the complainant’s officials’ involvement in commission of a crime, these grounds had clearly not been substantiated during the three years of the investigation. The Council raised the subject of complaint at the expert group meeting with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the complainant did not receive the property back immediately. The Council conducted expert group meetings with law enforcement agencies two times. Only following these meetings, the case settlement was successful.
Results achieved: Due to persistent work of the investigators’ team, the police upheld the BOC recommendations and returned the seized property to the complainant. The case was successfully closed.