Law Enforcement Raids Ex-Deputy Minister of Economy’s Home, Charges Unknown (2025)

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) raided the home of ex-Deputy Minister of Economy Svitlana Panaiotidi, Panaiotidis’ lawyer Taras Poshivanyuk told Kyiv Post via text message.

Poshivanyuk said the SBI search, still ongoing just before noon on Wednesday, was happening without a court decision.

“When I arrived, they simply stated that the order exists but claimed they are not obligated to show it. I wasn’t allowed to review the document, let alone receive a copy of this procedural decision,” he said.

Panaiotidis’ husband, Andrii Kobolyev, wrote in his Facebook post that law enforcement officials “broke into their house” at 6:30 a.m. Kyiv time and seized “two mobile phones, Panaiotidis’ work computer that contains attorney-client confidential data, and two old electronic devices for which neither of us remembers the passwords.”

“The criminal case concerns a decision the Antimonopoly Committee made in 2015,” Poshivanyuk said.

Back in 2015, Panaiotidi worked for the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), which authorized the Swiss-registered International Trading Partners AG to acquire a controlling stake in a Russian oil pipeline operator.

The Yugo-Zapadnoye Open Joint Stock Company, based in Samara, Russia, received the green light from AMCU to obtain more than 50% of the voting rights in International Trading Partners AG’s governing body.

Attorney Protections

A search of an acting attorney’s home without a court warrant is a severe violation of rights, Poshivanyuk said.

Panaiotidi obtained an attorney’s certificate in 2008, according to the open register of attorneys in Ukraine. “Ukrainian law permits an urgent search only in three specific cases: when a suspect is being pursued, when there is a real risk of evidence being destroyed, or when there is a threat to someone’s life. None of these conditions apply here,” he wrote.

Lawyers are under special protection from Ukrainian law, Miller law firm partner Artem Krykun-Trush wrote in a post on Facebook.

“Under Ukrainian legislation, you can’t just search a lawyer’s home. A decision from the Prosecutor General or their deputy is required. That safeguard exists to protect the legal profession and the rule of law. And yet, the State Bureau of Investigation officers deliberately bypassed it,” he wrote.

Who is Svitlana Panaiotidi?

Panaiotidi is an acting lawyer, but from 2019-2021 she worked as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine.

There, Panaiotidi oversaw areas such as state property management, public procurement, and the coordination of key agencies including the State Export Control Service, State Reserve Agency, State Space Agency, and Ukroboronprom, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

Before joining the ministry, she worked as a State Commissioner in the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU).

Panaiotidi holds a law degree from the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics. She is also a fellow and a student at the Aspen Institute Kyiv, Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and the Ukrainian School of Political Studies.

Before working for the state, she worked as head of the law department in Ukraine’s largest optical company, Luxoptica, and as a director on the board of directors of Ukraine’s largest private clinic company, Dobrobut, according to Povaha, a database of female professionals.

Panaiotidi used to be a lecturer at the Center for Procurement Improvement at the Kyiv School of Economics. Additionally, she is a supervisory board member of the Dead Lawyers Society – Ukrainian media about law industry, legal community and legaltech.