Zelensky promotes newly created Anti-Raid Office

Ukrainian President Zelensky released a video on Jan.
29 promoting Ukraine’s newly created Anti-Raid Office, which is intended to
resolve conflicts involving alleged raids of private property that couldn’t be
addressed by the courts.

The video features an elderly citizen who had won a
Supreme Court ruling in his attempt to recover an apartment he had inherited,
which had been illegally removed from his ownership by corrupt state officials.
While numerous officials had refused to fulfill the court decision, the
property became registered under third persons. The Anti-Raid Office ultimately
reached a ruling to cancel the illegal registration, which is signed by the
Justice Minister, and the pensioner is able to regain ownership of the
property.

Zenon Zawada: The
Anti-Raid Office is among the Zelensky administration’s numerous government
bodies created to improve business conditions in Ukraine amid a dysfunctional
judicial system that can’t be repaired in the short to mid-term. Another recent
such project is the Investment Nanny, which is
aimed at providing a personal adviser to help large foreign investors navigate
Ukraine’s difficult legal environment.

These are positive measures in a desperate situation
in Ukraine, which has yet to reach some minimal level of functioning courts
after 28 years of independence. The Zelensky administration ultimately needs to
improve its efforts to overhaul the judiciary and improve rule of law in
Ukraine. The lack of prosecutions of high-profile figures has not helped in
that regard.