The role of criminal proceedings in combating crime in the financial and credit sector
Palavras-chave:
Criminal Proceedings, Prevention, Investigation, Criminal Law, Economic Crimes, FraudResumo
The increase in economic crime under martial law, together with accelerated digitalization of financial services, underscores the need to reassess the role of criminal proceedings in countering financial crime, with an empirical focus on insurance fraud as a procedurally vulnerable segment. Despite amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU) and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (CPCU), investigative practice remains limited by deficiencies in the evidentiary base, procedural fragmentation, and weak interdepartmental coordination. The study aims to identify systemic shortcomings in financial-crime investigations and to substantiate procedural improvements. The research is based on content analysis of eight publicly available judicial decisions (six Supreme Court and two appellate decisions, 2023–2024), compliance-oriented assessment against FATF, GRECO, and ECtHR standards, and a functional comparative review of institutional models in France, Germany, and Poland. The findings indicate that stable outcomes are associated with a coherent evidentiary chain (timely expert examinations, interrogation of key witnesses, and preservation of digital traces), whereas terminated proceedings reflect procedural omissions and weak substantiation of intent as recorded in judicial reasoning. The analysis also highlights inconsistencies in asset-seizure initiation, the timing and use of expert evidence, and the procedural handling of digital traces. Comparative assessment suggests that specialized prosecution capacity and register-based data infrastructures support earlier evidence consolidation and more robust procedural outcomes. The study supports the hypothesis that a unified national insurance-fraud register and еarly prosecutorial oversight, aligned with European procedural safeguards, could strengthen evidentiary continuity and improve the effectiveness of financial-crime investigations in Ukraine.
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