The State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) has accused the State Financial Inspectorate of illegally confiscating the originals of documents from its premises and called on the Prosecutor-General's Office to take proper action, the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia said in a statement.
After a financial and economic audit of Ukrzaliznytsia, auditors from the State Financial Inspectorate not only failed to return the originals of the relevant documents to Ukrzaliznytsia, they also took all the documents away from Ukrzaliznytsia in the company of an investigator from the Prosecutor-General’s Office the day after the audit (30 October).
"Such actions violate the active legislation, according to which experts from the State Financial Inspectorate have the right to remove only copies of documents related to operations and settlements and not the originals. This is stipulated in the Provisions on the State Financial Inspectorate of Ukraine that the Cabinet of Ministers approved," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the legislation requires officials of the State Financial Inspectorate to return documents seized from Ukrzaliznytsia immediately after the audit because decision has been made to seize these documents.
“Ukrzaliznytsia is insisting that officials from any government agency should respect the procedures established by the legislation of Ukraine and avoid abusing their positions, and it is asking the Prosecutor-General’s Office to make a legal assessment of these actions, which, in Ukrzaliznytsia’s view, violate European standards of the rule of law in the country," the statement said.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia’s legal department, Oleh Titov, earlier said that the audits of Ukrzaliznytsia by the State Financial Inspectorate and an Infrastructure Ministry commission had been extended until 29 October and 7 November, respectively.
