Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman commissioned the Ministry of Justice, the Office of the Business Ombudsman, the Investment Promotion Office UkraineInvest to analyze cases of carrying out searches at enterprises that had taken place the previous week and to prepare a meeting of a special commission established in the framework of monitoring the implementation of the law on business protection Stop Mask Show.

"Last week representatives of Ukrainian business were subjected to a series of searches. I want to reiterate that I will defend legal businesses. It is vital for us to look into what is happening", the Head of Government stressed.

He accentuated that it is necessary to draw conclusions regarding each particular case. "In the coming weeks, we will summon a meeting to check whether pressure took place", said Volodymyr Groysman.

Background

On March 16, a team of the Prosecutor General's Office conducted about 15 searches of the warehouses and offices of the Nova Poshta Ltd in Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Odessa, Lviv and Dnipro. Apart from that, a number of IT companies were affected by searches.

At the end of 2017, with the constitutional majority a government bill aimed to limit abuses committed against businesses was passed. It had been drafted jointly by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Office of the Business Ombudsman and other agencies. 

Key innovations of the document are the inadmissibility and invalidity of the evidence obtained during the execution of a search decision avoiding video and audio recording. Similarly, the evidence obtained during a search when advocate was not allowed is considered invalid.

In March 2018, a special commission was set up to meet the requirements of this law. The commission comprised representatives of the business community in the first place.