The thesis examines the theoretical and methodological foundations of the investigation of crimes committed by organized criminal groups in the field of economic activity. It has been established that organized criminal group (organized groups, criminal organizations) use a wide range of modern digital technologies and virtual assets in the field of economic activity, with the help of which criminals: hide real income, as well as the income and profits of their enterprises by withdrawing assets into cryptocurrency; creation of illegal capital export using Internet platforms (casinos, lotto, etc.); receive shadow incomes by covertly withdrawing from circulation the difference between official and real prices for goods and services; subordinate international and national cryptocurrency exchanges, exchange offices, etc.
One of the urgent directions of increasing the effectiveness of the investigation of crimes committed by the organized criminal group in the field of economic activity with the use of virtual assets, computer information and electronic (digital) technologies is the development of a separate forensic methodology that, in accordance with modern realities, would reflect theoretical and applied aspects , became an element of the forensics system, had relative independence, its own object, subject, goals and tasks. The need to improve the existing system of forensic methods and develop a separate method of investigation of crimes committed by organized criminal group in the field of economic activity is due to the insufficient level of disclosure and investigation of these criminal offenses, as evidenced by official statistical data.
The purpose of the dissertation work is to determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of the formation and development of the main provisions of the forensic methodology for the investigation of crimes committed by organized criminal groups in the field of economic activity.
The methods of scientific research include a complex combination of general scientific and special methods used by legal science and make up the theoretical and methodological basis of the research.
The scientific novelty of the results lies in the fact that this work is one of the first systematic studies of the theoretical and practical foundations of the formation and implementation of forensic methods of investigating crimes committed by organized criminal groups in the field of economic activity. On the basis of the conducted research, an improved structure of the forensic method of investigation of crimes committed by the organized criminal group in the field of economic activity is proposed, new methods of their commission are determined. Taking into account the modern trends of organized criminal activity, recommendations have been developed regarding the use of special knowledge necessary for the investigation of these crimes.
The first section of the dissertation consists of three subsections, which consider the theoretical foundations of the formation of the methodology of the investigation of crimes committed by the organized criminal group in the field of economic activity.
On the basis of the analysis of the opinions of scientists and investigative practice, three general categories of organized criminal group technologies in the field of economic activity are distinguished, namely: a) "economic embezzlement", which consists in the commission of self-interested encroachments aimed at taking possession by official and materially responsible subjects of entrepreneurial activity state or communal property, budget funds, etc.; b) criminal offenses of the organized criminal group of a corruption orientation, which include various abuses of officials in the field of economic activity; c) criminal offenses committed by organized criminal group, related to violations of legislation in the field of economic activity.
The state and trends in the functioning of organized criminal groups in independent Ukraine were analyzed in three periods: 1992-2002 pp., 2003-2013 and 2014-2022. It was established that in the period from 2014 to 2022 there was a tendency to decrease the number of detected crimes, that are committed by organized criminal groups in the field of economic activity. Activities related to the disclosure of the specified crimes in 2020–2023 were analyzed separately. Since in these years, new law enforcement agencies, such as the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, etc., occupy a special place in the fight against organized criminal group in the field of economic activity. It was established that in the period from 01.01.2023 to 01.06.2023, 1,629 criminal proceedings in the field of economic activity were registered, however, only 42 with signs of organized criminal group, none of them has yet been sent to court with an indictment.
