Insights

Conducting investigative actions at an enterprise is a serious challenge for business. Such situations often arise suddenly under conditions of information and psychological stress. A search is the most common and, at the same time, the most unexpected investigative action. Even if there is a legal position, staff mistakes can significantly complicate the situation, lead to the loss of important information and property, paralyze the company’s operations, and even have long-term legal and reputational consequences.

Lie detector in domestic legal realities.

What do a lie detector and criminal procedure in Ukraine have in common? While pop culture and American television series often portray the polygraph, or so-called “lie detector,” as an indisputable tool for exposing lies, in reality, its use in Ukrainian criminal procedure remains a little-noticed and controversial topic. Although the current Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine does not explicitly permit the use of a polygraph, it also does not explicitly prohibit it. Such regulatory uncertainty has led to a situation where polygraphs are actively used in internal personnel procedures of law enforcement agencies, but their evidentiary value in criminal proceedings remains limited.

In its European integration agenda, Ukraine has set itself the ambitious goal of joining the “club of successful countries”, which is the unofficial name of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (hereinafter referred to as the OECD), which brings together 38 of the world’s most developed economies and is known for setting basic standards of public governance for states that uphold democratic values. In 2022, Ukraine initiated the process of integrating into the OECD and joining its Working Group on Bribery, a crucial step in this process. One of the necessary steps for joining the organisation is the ratification of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Ukraine’s accession to this anti-corruption convention is an integral part of the negotiations on EU accession, which involves aligning domestic regulations with the framework requirements of the partner countries’ criminal legislation, among other things.

A civil claim, if properly reasoned, may be an effective mechanism for compensation of property and non-pecuniary damage caused by the wrongful actions of a convicted person.