Liquidation of the tax police
Another draft law has been registered in the parliament, providing for the liquidation of the tax police. The bill No. 3087-d “On the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine” involves the creation of a new unified agency for combating economic crimes. In the explanatory note to the bill, the authors emphasize the low efficiency of the tax police as a law enforcement agency in the field of economic offenses, while the pressure exerted by this body on Ukrainian business is recognized as excessive. It is indicated, in particular, that with 1287 criminal proceedings opened in 2019, the courts issued only 10 convictions.
Based on this, the authors of the bill propose to release law enforcement agencies from their unusual functions, and to separate the service function of the tax authorities from the law enforcement function. Also, the creation of a single body responsible for combating economic crimes is the fulfillment of one of the requirements of the Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policy.
The bill assumes the optimization of the structure and number of law enforcement agencies in the field of combating economic crimes through the complete elimination of the tax police. The functions of combating crime in this area are supposed to be transferred to a newly created body – the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine. The new law enforcement agency is entrusted with the identification and investigation of criminal offenses in the economic sphere that pose a threat to the vital interests of Ukraine, as well as the prevention and prevention of this category of crimes.
The bill introduces a number of changes to more than 40 legal acts, including the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine.
It is assumed that the adoption of the draft law will help establish partnerships between business and law enforcement agencies, as well as improve Ukraine’s position in the Doing Business rating, which is compiled by the World Bank specialists.
© Legal agency “AKTIV”, 2020.
