Senior Associate of Lavrynovych & Partners Law Firm Roman Blazhko conducted on October 19 the Second Educational Seminar “New Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine and Taxpayers” at the American Chamber of Commerce (ACC).
In his report, Roman Blazhko addressed the most important novelties of the Criminal Procedural Code which is due to take effect on November 19, 2012: absence of the criminal case initiation stage, emergence of a new participant in the proceeding – an investigating judge, exclusive right vested in advocates to conduct defence in criminal proceedings, no return of cases for additional investigation, procecutor’s right to study defence lawyer’s materials which the latter intends to use in court.
“The adoption of the new Criminal Procedural Code is a successful continuation of the “reform” initiated by the Tax Code and aimed at curbing taxpayers’ right to challenge the legality of criminal proceedings brought against them”, said Roman Blazhko. “The Tax Code has prohibited issuing tax assessments to taxpayers upon initiation of a criminal proceeding – until the end of a court hearing in the criminal case. As a result, taxpayers have lost the possibility of using administrative court decisions to cancel tax assessments as evidence of wrongful initiation of a criminal proceeding. The new Criminal Procedural Code” finalised the deal by eliminating the criminal case institution stage altogether.
Roman Blazhko is the author of more than 50 publications about taxation. He actively cooperates with the tax committees of the ACC and the European Business Association (EBA) and is a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).