The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office closed 19% of cases against businesses after the audit

The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO) conducted an audit of the criminal proceedings that were initiated against the business. About 19% of them were closed.

Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Verbytskyi informed about this during a meeting with businesses and the Council of the Business Ombudsman, writes Forbes.

In total, the audit revealed 6 471 open cases that were initiated against businesses, of which 1 218 (19%) were closed.

The largest number of cases were initiated by the National Police — 64% (4 109), the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) — 27% (1 757), the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) — 5% (344) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) — 4% (261).

During January-February, 163 arrests were cancelled. SBI has the most — almost 55% or 88 arrests. The National Police is in second place with 28% (45 arrests), SBU is in third place with 10% (17), and the Security Service is in fourth place with 8% (13).

• In Ukraine, the problem of pressure on business was actively discussed in January 2024 after the detention and arrest of investment banker Ihor Mazepa, and later his brother Yurii. Because of this, on January 22, business and government representatives held a closed meeting.
• On January 23, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky informed about the adoption of a three-month moratorium on "mask-shows", the creation of the Entrepreneurship Support Council, and changes to the law on BES to "limit pressure on legal business."
• On February 7, the PGO informed that it would conduct an audit of criminal proceedings related to the economic sphere.
• In early April, the public organization "Manifesto 42" called on Zelensky to extend the moratorium.