Law enforcement officers return property and over UAH 11 mn to ceramics shop

Complainee:  The State Fiscal Service (SFS), Investigative Department of Financial Investigations of the State Fiscal Service in Kyiv (IDFI)
Complaint in brief: A tiles and bathroom equipment shop appealed to the Business Ombudsman Council. The company complained that investigators temporarily seized its property and did not return it. As part of criminal proceedings, law enforcement officers searched the complainant’s office and seized over UAH 11 mn, computer equipment and company’s documents. The court denied the motion to seize the company’s property and ordered investigators to return the seized items. The complainant several times asked the SFS to comply with the court decision to get his property back, but to no avail. In turn, the SFS asked for clarification of the court decision to enforce it. The BOC came to the company’s rescue.
Actions taken: The investigator examined the materials of the complaint and found it substantiated. The Council recommended that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the SFS return the seized property to the complainant. However, law enforcers returned only funds to the company. The BOC then brought up the case for consideration by the expert group with the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The SFS informed that it allegedly did not receive a court ruling. However, the information was false. The Council again appealed to law enforcers and asked to comply with the court ruling.
Result achieved: The SFS followed the Council’s recommendations and returned the property to the complainant in full. The company’s lawyer thanked the Council for assistance: “We want to thank you for your contribution to protecting interests of our clients. Thanks to your professionalism, we were able to resolve our conflict with public authorities and prevent violations of Ukrainian business representatives’ legal rights”. The case was successfully closed.