Today, on September 2, 2019, at its first meeting, the new Government adopted a decision eliminating the Economics Protection Department within the National Police of Ukraine.

“The police no longer have the right to interfere with business activities! Today, we have dismantled this unit that dealt with solving economic crimes. It’s because this odious structure instead of protecting the business interests systematically intervened into their work. Most often, they used to receive a court’s finding to carry out investigative actions and to begin the search: computers, bookkeeping were removed from the office, while cash and documents - from the cash account. As a result, they used to paralyze the work of enterprises and then demanded a buyback from entrepreneurs”, Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk commented on the relevant Government decision.

The Head of Government added that instead of the liquidated Department, an effective structure would be set up to investigate financial crimes, and decent and honest employees would be able to join the agency.

“Having dismantled the Department we will redistribute the necessary functions to other structural units of the National Police of Ukraine. In the near future, we expect the Parliament to support a draft decision to establish a new body to tackle economic crimes. The liquidation of the Department will not end with a simple change of facade but will be used to reform the units of the National Police. If there are honest people and true professionals in the system who will prove that they did not take bribes and express commitment to work to protect interests of the State, they will have such an opportunity”, the Prime Minister of Ukraine emphasized.