Lviv plant fights back raider attack

Complaint regarding: The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (MinJust)
Complaint in brief: The Council received a complaint from Lviv building and artistic ceramics plant. The company complained that the notary had changed information about the plant’s head in the Unified State Register (USR) having violated the law and the company’s charter. Instead of the highest governing body’s decision, the registrar made changes based on a completely different document. In accordance with the charter of the plant, the decision to terminate the powers of the enterprise’s head is made by the General Meeting, the meeting of which did not take place. Instead, the Supervisory Board decided to dismiss the current head. Due to the illegal appointment of a new chief executive after appealing to the MinJust Collegium for reviewing complaints against decisions, actions or omission of the state registrar (the MinJust Collegium), the company sought help from the Business Ombudsman Council.
Actions taken: The investigator upheld the company’s position and found the complaint substantiated. After examining the case file, the Council concluded that when making changes to the USR, the registrar should have been guided by the decision of the General Meeting rather than the Supervisory Board.
The Council recommended that the Ministry of Justice ensure a full and comprehensive review of the company’s complaint and restore true information about the plant’s head in the event of a breach of the law. In particular, the Council asked the MinJust Collegium to carefully check legality of the private notary’s registration actions.
Result achieved: Having accepted the Council’s recommendations, the MinJust Collegium satisfied Lviv enterprise’s complaint. The MiniJust canceled controversial registration actions and restored information on the CEO of the building and artistic ceramics plant. The registrar’s access to the USR was blocked for a month. The case was successfully closed.