President of Ukraine
Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Chairman of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
on the protection of investors’ rights
Members of the Ukrainian Business Council, which includes 113 business associations of all sectors of the economy, express concern about the attitude of security forces towards business representatives and the increasingly frequent facts of undue pressure from law enforcement agencies. The business community is outraged by the latest case involving the founder of the Concorde Capital investment company Ihor Mazepa and the company’s employees.
According to publicly available information, on January 18, 2024, the Ukrainian businessman was detained by the SBI investigators at the Ukrainian-Polish border (check point “Shegyny”), despite compliance with the procedures of early notification of departure established for cases related to volunteer and investment activities.
The arrest of a well-known Ukrainian businessman took place in connection with the pre-trial investigation of a criminal proceeding in a 10-year-old case regarding the alleged “illegal” privatization of land by individuals, its purchase and subsequent investment in the construction of a cottage town.
Investments in the national economy must be protected not only from the arbitrariness of third parties, but also from the arbitrariness of law enforcement agencies and state authorities, otherwise the development of the rule of law and the attraction of foreign investments are impossible.
As it became known from the mass media, Ihor Mazepa’s lawyer was not allowed to the place of the latter’s detention. In addition, the detention took place without the decision of the investigating judge as part of the criminal proceedings, which were opened back in 2014. In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, no one can be detained without a decision of an investigating judge, a court, except for the cases provided for by this Code.
Detention of a person without a decision of an investigating judge by an official is possible only if this person was caught during the commission of a crime or an attempt to commit it, or during an attempt to escape abroad (Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine).
Ihor Mazepa’s departure abroad took place on legal grounds, as the entrepreneur is booked on the basis of the decision of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, and for the purpose of conducting negotiations with foreign investors regarding the attraction of additional investments in Ukrainian projects.
Searches were also carried out in the company’s office and at the residential addresses of the employees of the company owned by Ihor Mazepa, property and documents related to all areas of the entrepreneur’s activities, without exception, were seized. Employees’ personal belongings were also seized. The searches were conducted without the lawyer’s admission to them, despite the fact of his arrival at the scene of the incident, and without the decision of the investigating judge for such a search.
Such actions of law enforcement officers are a violation of the relevant procedural norms, which may indicate the ordered nature of investigative actions.
It is not clear why during the 10 years since the opening of the criminal proceedings, the State Bureau of Investigation had no opportunity or desire to investigate this case, but it is precisely at this difficult time for the country, when every enterprise that pays taxes and brings investments to Ukraine and is “worth its weight in gold ” for the state, the law enforcement officers showed such a sharp reaction to the Ukrainian investment company and a well-known Ukrainian businessman that it led to his arbitrary detention without the decision of the investigating judge.
In addition, the question arises why exactly the SBI conducts searches? Why is the SBI involved in cases related to business, since only investigations involving law enforcement officers, judges, and officials are part of the SBI’s functionality?
A separate question regarding the disproportionate amounts of the pledge, which is requested to be applied to the entrepreneur and “inflicted damage”. The degree of inconsistency of the specified amounts is astounding.
So, in the suspicion of Ihor Mazepa, it is indicated that, according to the version of the investigation, he allegedly caused losses to the state of 7 million hryvnias by building a cottage town (having previously obtained the necessary permits from state authorities), which diligently pays taxes and is in demand among the capital’s residents.
At the same time, the law enforcement officers ask to apply a preventive measure to the entrepreneur in the form of detention with an alternative in the form of a bail in the amount of 700 million hryvnias.
It is obvious that such an inadequately large amount of bail is not aimed at ensuring that the suspect complies with his procedural obligations, but aims to isolate the Ukrainian businessman at any cost, depriving him of the opportunity to prove his innocence in freedom.
The inadequate amount of bail requested by the SBI investigators is in fact a punishment for his active pro-Ukrainian and anti-corruption position and contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights, the observance of which is guaranteed by the state of Ukraine.
Representatives of the business community tend to believe that in reality there is pressure on a citizen who actively opposes the pressure of law enforcement agencies on business. In this case, the arbitrariness of law enforcement officers harms not only a specific entrepreneur, but also spoils the investment climate and the state’s reputation among international partners, destroys the business environment from the inside, and harms the state’s economy.
The detention of the investment banker has already caused extremely stormy and negative reactions among Ukrainian and foreign mass media, as well as among Ukrainian and foreign investors.In particular, Bloomberg, one of the most authoritative economic mass media in the world, published an article entitled “In Ukraine, an investment banker who complained about corruption was detained.”
Members of the Ukrainian Business Council call on the President of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Protection of Investors’ Rights to assess the actions of law enforcement officers, promote the immediate restoration of the legal rights of injured entrepreneurs and the elimination of illegal actions by law enforcement agencies, as well as implement the necessary institutional reforms as soon as possible – reform of the Prosecutor’s Office, restarting the Bureau of Economic Security, completion of judicial reform, ensuring the protection of the rights of participants in criminal proceedings (draft law No. 9211) – with the aim of preventing such actions in the future.
Best regards,
Business associations
Members of the Ukrainian Business Council