Booming Practice

Criminal risks for business in Ukraine remain quite significant as part of a general set of risks usually considered by foreign investors. International business has brought compliance management systems to their everyday operations and management. As for local business owners, there are permanent cases of misappropriation of funds, corporate raiding, and fictitious bankruptcies. Lawyers confirm that of late there is increasing demand for conducting corporate investigations to discover internal and external fraud, money laundering, abuse of office, negligence. All in all, the practice in Ukraine is booming and keeping criminal attorneys busy.

The reform of investigating and prosecuting crime in Ukraine is still pending, producing a range of law-enforcement and criminal justice actors. Most recently, the Bureau of Economic Security was established to deal with all economic crimes. The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine forms its court practice and appears to be quite loaded with work since the new wave of corruption accusing public officials and political figures. We met up with Olga Prosyanyuk and Igor Fedorenko, partners of AVER LEX, to discuss their growing number of cases in the Anti-Corruption Court.