Ukraine Faces 466 Illegal Takeovers in 2021

This year, 466 new illegal takeovers have taken place in Ukraine. However, most of them still await the court ruling.

Since the end of spring, the overall situation has not changed: currently, at least two illegal takeovers happen every day in Ukraine.

Every year, more and more violations take place in the country. Since 2015, their number has tripled. In 2015, there were only 290 recorded illegal takeovers, while in 2020, the number reached 849, and the upward tendency still remains the same.

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Number of criminal proceedings on the cases related to illegal takeovers

Year	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Number of criminal proceedings	290	433	563	500	766	849	466

Most often, courts consider illegal takeover cases under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on forgery of documents submitted to register a legal entity and a PE. Of the 348 cases of document forgery in 2021, 169 reached the court.

Cases under Article 206 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on interference to lawful economic activity and illegal seizure of property get hardly ever litigated. Only 3 cases of 118 were brought to the court.

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The cases related to illegal takeovers have procedural specifics of their own, which results in proceedings drawing out over two years. For this reason, the percentage of cases awaiting judgment is so high.