The Tax Police returns unreasonably seized property 

Subject of complaint: The Investigative Department for Financial Investigations of the Large Taxpayers’ Office of the State Tax Service (Tax Police) 
Complaint in brief: On September 3, 2018, a leading Ukrainian metallurgical enterprise turned to the Council. The Complainant could not return the documents and property seized during a search. 
In June of 2018, the Tax Police initiated the search of the enterprise. According to its results, law enforcers seized documents and money not specified in the court order for a search. They tried to arrest property through the court, however, it refused to. 
Under the law, the seized property, regarding which the court did not allow to seize and rejected the seizure, the police has to return to the owner. However, the investigator did not return the money and documents to the Complainant. It significantly limited normal economic activities of the plant and completely blocked the work with some counterparties. 
Actions taken: The Council’s investigator thoroughly studied the circumstances of the case and found out that law enforcers unreasonably kept the Complainant’s property for which the court did not grant the seizure permit. He requested the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO) in writing to return documents and money to the owner. 
 
In response to the Council’s appeal to the PGO, the property was returned to the enterprise. However, not all of it – the investigator kept some documents for himself “for additional studying”. Because of this, the Council had to address the PGO and the Tax Police for the second time. 
 
Result achieved: Only in mid-November the law enforcers returned the rest of documents to the Complainant. The actions of the investigator who refused to return the property were found to be illegal. One conducted an explanatory work on the necessity to comply with the current legislation with him. The case was closed successfully.