Review

Illicit enrichment is a relatively new crime, as liability for it is provided for in a new article of the Criminal Code, which has been in effect since the end of 2019. Therefore, prosecution in Ukraine is possible only for facts of illicit enrichment that occurred after this time. Currently, no case for illicit enrichment has been transferred to court, which indicates serious difficulties in investigating and proving such facts by law enforcement agencies. Therefore, it is very important to provide practitioners with scientific recommendations on studying the patterns of criminal activity in the form of illicit enrichment.

The purpose of the article is to study the forensic characteristics of illicit enrichment. To achieve this goal, the authors used a complex of general scientific and special scientific methods of cognition: the dialectical method of cognition of objective reality; the method of comparative analysis, comparative law; hermeneutic; system analysis and formal-logical (synthesis, analysis, deduction, analogy).

The forensic characteristics of illicit enrichment include such elements as: the identity of the criminal, the subject of the direct criminal offense, the method of committing the criminal offense, and a typical trace pattern .

The identity of the criminal is clearly defined in the note to Article 368–5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, excluding persons authorized to perform state and local government functions. Such people always have a self-serving motive, usually hold high positions and have a high social status. If a person acquired assets before their appointment to a certain position, they cannot be held liable for illicit enrichment. These categories of criminal proceedings are always initiated against a specific person.

The subject of the direct criminal offense of illicit enrichment is various assets listed in the note to Article 368–5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In 2024, the minimum amount of such assets must be more than 9,841,000 UAH.

The method of illicit enrichment always involves active actions and cannot be committed in the form of inaction. The method includes actions to prepare, commit and conceal this crime; usually, when receiving assets, the person already plans ways to conceal them. Methods of concealment are also diverse: registration of property rights in the name of other persons, taking assets abroad, understating the official value of assets or purchasing copies, indicating additional income in the form of winnings, prizes.

A typical trace picture of illicit enrichment consists of groups of material and ideal traces. The key material traces are various documents that were used to register rights to assets, the person’s declaration, documents related to the verification of the declaration, and the objects of criminal encroachment themselves (money, valuables, real estate, cars, etc.). The sources of ideal traces are usually work colleagues who can provide information about a certain standard of living of a person, as well as employees of regulatory bodies regarding the procedure for verifying the declaration or monitoring the person’s lifestyle.

Keywords: forensic characterization, illicit enrichment, pre-trial investigation, elements of forensic characterization.