On 13 June 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved and sent to the parliament amendments to the law meant to put an end to the so-called “masks shows”. The law is about strengthening the responsibility of unscrupulous law enforcement officers.
Changes to this so-called stop-the-masks-shows law approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, which are meant to strengthen the responsibility of law enforcement officers for abuse or corrupt practices aiming to exert pressure on businesses, can drastically change the situation that arose in Ukraine.
This is how Ivan Gerasimovich, Risk Management and Security Director of Smart-Holding, commented to UNIAN the changes to the stop-the-masks-show law that the Cabinet of Ministers directed to the Verkhovna Rada.
“The proposed changes, if adopted by the parliament, can really significantly reduce pressure on businesses and raise the level of responsibility of the law enforcement system. There will be a real personal responsibility of a particular law enforcement officer for abuse of office or position. Today, such "enthusiasts" are hiding behind the corresponding door signs – the Prosecutor General's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine etc., and they are practically not responsible for their misdeeds, especially those committed with the blessing of their leadership. The procedure of bringing a law enforcement officer to material responsibility in case the fact of violation or misdeed by such an officer is established can in general drastically change the rules of the game,” Gerasimovich stressed.
According to him, now, paradoxically, it is businesses that pay for law enforcement officers’ unlawful actions in relation to them, because material damage, given the appropriate judicial confirmation, shall be repaid directly from the state treasury, which is mostly filled by the same businesses.
"While from now on it is stipulated that the state, having paid off the damage caused by an official of the authority that carries out operational and investigative activities, pre-trial investigation, or by an official of the prosecutor's office or court, is not only entitled to apply but indeed applies the right of recourse claim to such persons if elements of a criminal or disciplinary offense in their actions are established," underlined the expert.