Ukraine Faces Difficulties in Seizing Illicit Assets Before a Court Verdict, ILI Head for Kyiv 24

Ukraine does not have sufficient legal instruments allowing the state to seize assets linked to criminal activity before a final court verdict is issued. Tetiana Khutor, Head of the Institute of Legislative Ideas, said this on Kyiv 24.

“In other cases, it can sometimes take a decade to obtain a final decision. We have an instrument of confiscation as a sanction, that is, as punishment for a crime. However, this is only possible when guilt has already been established and there is a court verdict,” the expert noted.

According to her, Ukraine’s mechanism for civil confiscation of unjustified assets is primarily applied to public officials. In other cases, assets effectively remain beyond the state’s reach until criminal proceedings are completed.

“If individuals are abroad, in hiding, and deliberately delay the proceedings, it is very difficult for the state to seize their assets, even when it is obvious that they are of criminal origin,” Tetiana Khutor explained.

At the same time, the ILI Head noted that seized assets in Ukraine can be transferred to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) for further management. However, despite competitions being held to select managers for seized assets, the effectiveness of this mechanism remains problematic.

“Over the past year, there have been three competitions involving tens of thousands of assets, but for various reasons, they are not being managed effectively,” Tetiana Khutor noted.

The expert believes that the state has found itself in a situation where, on the one hand, it cannot definitively seize assets before a court verdict and, on the other, transferring seized property to ARMA does not always guarantee its effective preservation and management.

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