In recent years, courts in Kyiv have issued approximately 10,000 search or inspection permits – offices, shops, office centers, warehouses, apartments and houses, garages, bank safes.

A search is an investigative action in criminal proceedings with a 100% stress level.

According to the Criminal Procedure Code, the purpose of the search is:

• to find any evidence of a “crime” (e.g., invoices, articles of organization, contracts, instant messaging)
• to find an instrument of crime (such as a seal or a shotgun)
• to find a wanted person
• to find criminally acquired property (such as a stolen car)
• to find property for confiscation goals

The word “crime” is quoted because the vast majority of searches do not even end with a suspicion,
no one is prosecuted, and therefore there was no crime from the point of view of the law.

The search can last an hour or 12 or more hours in a row. Security officers can use force, initiate a personal search, seize everything in a row. After a search, you may not find money or other property or, conversely, find “someone else’s”

Also, the search can take place quickly, without much inconvenience to the client.

What to do if you came with a search? Calm down and call an experienced attorney. On the Internet, you will find a variety of helpful advice on how to check the court decision, identification documents, methods of psychological pressure, or samples of comments to the search record.

But, as practice shows, at this point, all the articles, webinars, and workshops are mentioned after the search. Therefore, it is extremely important to have with you an experienced attorney  during the search.

Who should be ready for a home search:

• CEO
• owner (participant, shareholder, beneficiary)
• Chief Accountant
• CFO
• Head of Legal
• other persons who may have (according to the investigator) evidence. For example, evidence of transfers, contracts, personal correspondence with an official, draft records of salary information, etc.

What exactly will attract the attention of the investigator:

• phone (interested in correspondence, contacts, photos)
• computer
• flash-card (“flash drive”)
• notebook
• documents and their drafts (contracts, articles of organization, invoices, bank statements, schemes, receipts, structures, applications, budgets, reports, plans, schemes of operations, postings, conceptual arrangements, list of clients, analytics, subordination, responsibilities of employees , meeting minutes, etc.)
• Safe
• everything related to bank cells (agreement with the bank, etc.)
• money and other valuables
• stamps
• password entries
• weapons

By law, the investigator has the right to seize anything he wants during a search.

Analyze your risks.

The search includes rules, procedures, improvisation, and constant psychological pressure.

Therefore, it is worth thinking in advance about the question “who will I call if they come with a search?”; to find your personal attorney and write down his phone number in the “emergency calls” section.