Officers from Ukraine’s SBU security service on March 23 searched the homes of top managers of online service YouControl, the company said in a post on its Facebook page.
The service monitors open data financial reports, and information on connections between businesses and their owners in Ukraine.
The company reported that the apartments of YouControl CEO Sergi Milman and Commercial Director Olena Lapa had been searched by the SBU.
YouControl staff lawyer Daniel Globa was only allowed to be present at the search of Milman’s apartment, while Lapa’s home and the company’s office have been closed off by the authorities.
“We don’t know what’s going on there with our property – documents, computers,” Globa said.
According to him, Kyiv’s Shevchenkivsky District Court ordered the searches on March 3, accusing the company of “disrupting automated systems.” Globa said the charges were “legal nihilism,” as the legislation on open data permits the use, copying and distribution of the information collected by YouControl.
The website gathers open data from 16 state registers, automatically compiling it into tailor-made reports. Once users request a report, it takes only about a minute for it to be prepared and delivered. On top of that, users can order round-the-clock monitoring.
It’s often used as a tool to root out corruption schemes, as it compiles reports that include a company’s financial history, types of activity, renaming of the enterprise, staff changes, and tax debts since 2000.
If required, the website can show all of the businesses linked to a beneficial owner of a particular company.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected].
