The Business Ombudsman agreed on cooperation with the State Security Service

The Business Ombudsman Algirdas Semeta and the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) Vasyl Hrytsak signed the Memorandum of partnership. Its purpose is to improve the cooperation between the Business Ombudsman Council (BOC) and the SSU when dealing with complaints from the business.
The Memorandum presumes the establishment of an expert group headed by the Deputy Head of SSU and Deputy Business Ombudsman. The expert group will consider specific complaints against the SSU actions and its regional divisions, collaborate in legislation improvement, track and counter violations of the officials.
Algirdas Semeta pointed out that only 3% of complaints refers to the SSU actions, although there are some resonant cases among them. Meanwhile by the end of the Quarter II, 2017, the SSU had implemented 95% of the Business Ombudsman’s recommendations.
“Our goal is to make this memorandum work. Experience has shown that as soon as memos with government agencies are signed, the number of implemented recommendations increases significantly. I am convinced that the memo we signed today will allow us to solve issues between the business and the SSU in a more effective way”, – emphasized the Business Ombudsman Algirdas Semeta.
The Head of SSU Vasyl Hrytsak noted: “We would like this mechanism not to be just a formal document, but a real working tool. From our side we are ready to facilitate the BOC in fulfilment of its rights by all means”.
Just to remind, the BOC has earlier signed Memoranda of Cooperation with eight state bodies: the State Fiscal Service, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Regulatory Service, the Ministry of Justice, National Anti-corruption Bureau, Kyiv City State Administration, National Police and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.