Over 5,000 companies were involved in criminal cases last year
The number of criminal proceedings against businesses increased 2.6 times over the year
15 July 2024
More than 5,000 companies became subjects of criminal cases in 2023, according to the court register. In total, a record 43,000 documents mentioning businesses were recorded last year. This year, almost 3,000 companies have already been involved in such cases.
5,015 Ukrainian private companies were mentioned in the court register as subjects of criminal cases in 2023. Among them, six companies were involved in cases of money laundering (legalization of proceeds from crime), and four were involved in cases of collaboration activities.
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of companies | 4 | 24 | 753 | 1,441 | 1,842 | 2,610 | 2,783 | 3,321 | 3,941 | 4,115 | 3,321 | 5,015 | 2,839 |
| Number of proceedings | 4 | 31 | 2,219 | 5,145 | 5,599 | 7,450 | 8,778 | 10,084 | 14,260 | 16,191 | 16,498 | 43,138 | 23,971 |
The year 2023 set a record for the number of criminal proceedings against businesses, with 43,138 cases. This is the highest number since 2012.
So far in 2024, 2,839 companies have become subjects of criminal proceedings. Among them, one company is mentioned in the context of a treason charge, three for collaboration activities, and ten for money laundering.
It’s important to note that up to 80% of criminal cases against businesses do not result in convictions or never make it to court. Companies receive paper notices from the prosecutor’s office about the closure of cases, but these documents cannot be used to confirm their reputation due to their paper format, which is difficult to verify.
A possible solution to this problem would be to certify such documents with an electronic signature. Opendatabot has approached the General Prosecutor’s Office with this initiative. However, the General Prosecutor’s Office rejected the proposal for electronic signatures on responses from prosecutorial authorities in criminal proceedings.
«Businesses listed in the court register as subjects of criminal cases face subsequent problems with financial monitoring and compliance. Even if the case is closed, mentions of the company in the court register remain forever; they cannot be removed or refuted. Currently, businesses have no way to protect their reputation in such cases.
Publishing letters from the prosecutor’s office about case closures, confirmed by electronic signatures, could greatly assist Ukrainian businesses by allowing them to publicly refute information from the register and prove their innocence»,
— comments Oleksiy Ivanikin, founder of Opendatabot.
Source: Opendatabot
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