PM urges to eradicate unrelenting pressure on business

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine within the framework of the policy of supporting legal business and development of an enabling business environment in Ukraine is working out the draft law on the liability of law enforcement officers for unlawful and excessive actions against entrepreneurs. This statement was made by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during a meeting of the Regional Development Council with the participation of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

The Prime Minister recalled in September, there was a key meeting with the business circles under the chairmanship of the President, one of the issues of which was pressure on business. Just at that meeting, according to the Head of the Government, the Stop Mask Shows initiative was announced and backed. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine gave instructions to terminate non-motivated actions during searches sanctioned by the court.

«I meet with business representatives and we hear serious complaints of intolerable pressure of the law-enforcement system (on business)», stressed Volodymyr Groysman and added that the decisions on supporting business being constantly approved by the central authorities.

Volodymyr Groysman provided accurate statistics showing that the number of appeals from entrepreneurs with complaints about control and law enforcement agencies increased significantly in all areas of activities. Thus, according to the web portal "Judicial power of Ukraine", the number of complaints about the actions of investigators and prosecutors last year amounted to more than 86 thousand, and in the first half of this year already increased to more than 47 thousand. Last year, the number of petitions of investigators about the searches last year was up to 94 thousand, since the beginning of this year - almost 60 thousand. The petitions for the arrest of property last year were more than 38 thousand, since the beginning of this year - already 30,5 thousand.

«We can no longer accept such actions, a final point should  be made on this matter. We must stop the epidemic of pressure on business», Volodymyr Groysman emphasized. «At present, one of the main demand to the local authorities, controlling bodies - to leave business and economy alone».

The draft law offered by the Government on the responsibility of law enforcement officials for putting excessive pressure on businessmen is one of the initiatives on this path. As the Head of Government underlined, the document will determine proportional  limits of actions of law enforcement structures during searches, will establish the responsibility of officials of law enforcement authorities for illegal activities during the conduct of investigative actions and other procedural measures, will impose the obligation of video recording investigations, define clear terms pretrial investigation and other procedural deadlines in criminal proceedings, etc.

The Prime Minister asserted the next step will be the consideration and adoption of a draft law on the Financial Investigation Service, further deregulation and transparent privatization decisions that will allow to leverage investments and to create new jobs.

Moreover, he placed a special emphasis on the fact that the postponement of the adoption of necessary decisions is inadmissible.

«Let's meet here in 7 months in order to be able to say that we became better, the country became stronger, and the life of people got easier», underscored the Prime Minister.