The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, signed the law "On the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine" No. 1150-IX, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on January 28, 2021. This was reported in the press service of the head of state.
The document creates institutional conditions for the protection of economic processes from the pressure of law enforcement agencies, which is supported by Ukraine's international partners. The main function of the Bureau of Economic Security will be analytical work, not force powers. The Bureau will analyze the beneficiaries of financial transactions and determine whether there is a violation of the law in the circulation of funds of certain business or state structures.
It is noted that the Bureau of Economic Security is the only state authority responsible for combating economic crimes. He will receive the corresponding powers of the Security Service and Tax Militia, which will be rethought so that it is not so much a force as an analytical body.
After the adoption of the law on the Economic Security Bureau of the SBU, it will lose its functions of investigating crimes of corruption and organized criminal activity in the sphere of management and economy, which are not characteristic of special services. This will allow the SBU to focus on tasks that are really directly related to the security of the state and counter-intelligence activities in the economic sphere.
According to the law, the Bureau of Economic Security is the central body of the executive power, which is tasked with combating offenses affecting the functioning of the state's economy. Its activities are directed and coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The powers of the Bureau of Economic Security include:
— identification of risk zones in the economy by analyzing structured and unstructured data;
— assessment of risks and threats to the economic security of the state, development of methods of their minimization and elimination;
— submission of proposals for amendments to regulatory and legal acts on the elimination of prerequisites for the creation of schemes of illegal activity in the economic sphere;
— ensuring the economic security of the state by preventing, identifying, suppressing, and investigating criminal offenders encroaching on the functioning of the state's economy;
— collection and analysis of information on offenses affecting the economic security of the state, and determination of ways to prevent their occurrence in the future;
— planning measures in the sphere of countermeasures against criminal offenses related by law to its jurisdiction;
— identification and investigation of offenders related to the receipt and use of international technical assistance;
— drawing up analytical conclusions and recommendations for state bodies in order to increase the efficiency of their management decision-making on the regulation of relations in the economic sphere.
