The lack of unified database of property, registered abroad by the participants of crimes investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, complicates and delays the property detection. This was stressed by the NABU Director Artem Sytnyk at the Third Asset Recovery Conference.
“There is a lot of property in Ukraine, and even more is located abroad. And all of it wasn’t mentioned in e-declarations. And it is the biggest obstacle for seizing such property,” said Artem Sytnyk.
As of now after filing international legal requests the State Financial Monitoring Service receives information from abroad and assists the NABU in identifying the property registered abroad. Such communication usually takes several months.
To illustrate the case, the NABU Director mentioned the “Onyshchenko’s gas case” in terms of which 7 million EUR were arrested in Latvia but only two months after the first detentions in this case.
Artem Sytnyk stated that the Ukrainian law enforcement officials have to receive an access to international databases that allow to identify property registered abroad and to forward this data to the respective investigating authorities.
“The recently signed Cooperation Agreement with Europol is another important step in the asset recovery process, because now the NABU is officially recognized a direct enquiry point. It is also important that the National Agency of Ukraine for identifying, tracing and management of assets derived from corruption and other crimes starts functioning within the shortest time possible,” emphasized Artem Sytnyk.
In general, within the framework of investigations as of December 1, 2016, the NABU Detectives have arrested 433.6 million UAH, 79.79 million USD, and 7.1 million EUR. Other seized assets include securities worth 75.5 million USD, 228 units of agricultural machinery and components, one integral property complex, 53 non-residential premises, 41 vehicles, 101 land plots, 32 houses, 52 apartments, gold, jewelry, electronics etc.
