The second day of the General Continuing Education Course for Corporate Lawyers at LHS is coming to a close. Konstantin Globa, a partner at Barristers LLP, and Inna Tetska, an attorney at Barristers LLP, delivered the concluding lecture on combating fraud and other crimes in the business sector.

As Konstantin Globa noted, law enforcement agencies have always taken an interest in business, but today the number of unlawful criminal prosecutions of business entities and their officials has increased significantly. For example, law enforcement agencies very often enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations on trumped-up grounds and effectively halt the operations of a particular enterprise through their procedural actions. The trend toward an increase in such prosecutions of business entities is occurring because there have been many recent changes in Ukraine’s criminal, criminal procedure, and anti-corruption legislation.

Unfortunately, as Mr. Globa noted based on his experience, in 99% of cases, the investigator is not your friend. The lecturer is convinced that it is worth being “uncomfortable” and “inconvenient” for the investigator. Therefore, it is necessary to practice “silent” interrogations, where one’s position is set out in writing—this is one method of preventing coercion into making a statement. The lecturer emphasizes that a lawyer builds and is responsible for their professional reputation, first and foremost, to their client. Instead, the speaker believes, one should strive to make a good impression on the judges. “You need to think outside the box, to be—in the best sense of the word—an adventurer who, nevertheless, operates within the legal framework,” emphasized Kostyantyn Globa.

In turn, Inna Tetska noted that investigative actions are measures aimed at obtaining (gathering) evidence or verifying evidence already obtained in a specific criminal proceeding. The grounds for conducting such an operation are the existence of sufficient evidence indicating the possibility of achieving its objective. It is important to remember that conducting investigative operations at night (from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) is not permitted, except in urgent cases where a delay in conducting them could result in the loss of evidence of a criminal offense or the suspect’s escape. The following individuals may not serve as witnesses: the victim; relatives of the suspect, the accused, or the victim; law enforcement officers; or persons with a vested interest in the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

Ms. Tetska also recommends making a copy of the protocol—this will prevent many problems in the future.

The speakers also shared case studies from their own practice involving fraud with the LHS audience.