Britain and Ukraine to jointly fight crime (02/01/98)

Britain and Ukraine to jointly fight crime

by Tony Leliw

LONDON - Britain has signed a bilateral agreement with Ukraine to combat serious crime. Senior representatives from four law enforcement agencies from Britain signed the deal with their counterparts in Kyiv on January 16.

These included representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise Service.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries is the first such multi-agency agreement with a former Warsaw Pact region country. The MOU will establish a framework for cooperation in the fields of prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of serious crime.

This framework will provide for obtaining admissible evidence, statements and exhibits; providing documents and records; locating and identifying persons; and exchanging information and criminal intelligence.

Although Ukraine plans to ratify the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, until now there has been no bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and Ukraine to coordinate the fight against serious crime.

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