August 23, 2016
The goal was to make Ukraine more friendly for investors by reducing red tape. But reforms that loosened the rules for registering ownership of assets have left companies prey to fraudsters who can swipe entire businesses at a pen stroke. The new laws, which took effect in December, give thousands of private notaries new powers to record changes of ownership of assets at registries around the country.
According to the government, on at least 250 occasions so far, fraudsters have taken advantage of the changes to seize control of shopping malls, building sites or other businesses, sometimes emptying bank accounts before they are discovered.