In Ukraine, an official is allowed to "make mistakes" in the interests of the state, the scale of which is distorted - expert

In Ukraine, it is not customary to bring to justice officials who commit illegal actions against businesses. At the same time, the institute of business reputation of officials is partially functioning, it is selective. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by political commentator Gennadiy Dubov.

If we are talking about illegal actions in relation to, for example, business, criminal prosecution, illegal inspections, foreclosures, etc., it is not customary in our country to bring to justice or even initiate criminal proceedings

In his opinion, even when the courts consider cases where the state has taken away some property from a business and it turns out that the court decision in favor of the state is illegal, the judge will not be held liable for this, because he "acted in the interests of the state, and in the interests of the state, even "making mistakes" is acceptable from the point of view of the entire state.

"The right hand will never break the left. And if a business manages to fight back, it thanks fate for that... So we have a distorted scale of state interest. The state interest is often not business development, but the return of something to state ownership, and this goal overshadows the laws that the state itself adopts," Dubov said.

At the same time, he said, the institution of business reputation of officials in Ukraine is quite selective.

"The institute of business reputation of officials is partially working. There are certain attempts to form an image of a reformer among some officials. For example, the Minister of Justice recently noted that for criminal prosecution, people should be divided into those with low communication risks and those with high risks, and where communication risks are high, they should not be prosecuted without solid evidence, and he named officials with the image of a reformer," the political observer noted.

The expert added that the institute of business reputation in Ukraine is formed based on media assessments of officials' performance. However, public trust in them is not always justified.

"Therefore, there are no objective criteria as such today. This is the work of the media, a certain part of civil society, people and specialists in the field of communications, and society as a whole. From my point of view, there is no clear system of coordinates for assessing the activities of officials," he said.

Recall

In Ukraine, scandals arise from time to time when an official is accused of illegal actions or corruption. However, cases against officials are rarely brought to a logical conclusion. For example, earlier UNN learned from its own sources that the SBI opened a criminal proceeding on the fact of possible abuse of power or office, which led to serious consequences, by the director of the legal department, Oleksandr Zyma. The criminal case concerns a letter from the National Bank to the DGF signed by Zyma, who is also the chairman of the administrative board of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. In the letter, he recommended that the Fund drop four lawsuits that Concord Bank had filed against the NBU before the decision to liquidate the bank and introduce a temporary administration was made. The DGF implemented Zyma's recommendation.

Last year, for the first time in Ukraine, not only bankrupt banks but also profitable institutions were subject to liquidation and license revocation, including Concord Bank. The process of depriving a banking institution of its license takes place without a court. Of course, the owners and shareholders of banks may appeal the decision of the regulator, the NBU, after it has made a decision to liquidate the bank, but in general, the process of withdrawing a banking institution from the market, once it has been launched, is irreversible. 

In addition, the issue of liquidation of a profitable bank has not been regulated in Ukraine. According to Olena Sosedka, co-owner of Concord Bank, at the time the regulator announced the decision to liquidate the bank, the financial institution had enough highly liquid assets to make all the necessary payments in 2-3 weeks. But the process of bank liquidation is strictly regulated by law and can generally take up to three years.