RESOLUTION OF CLAIMS FOR COMPENSATION FOR LOST PROFITS IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

It has been established that it is unacceptable to use the arsenal of forces and means of criminal proceedings to resolve issues of compensation for lost profits in civil proceedings. It has been proven that lost profits are potential income that can only be obtained under certain conditions. The impossibility of establishing intent with regard to lost profits as a circumstance that did not exist or whose existence was not proven at the time of the commission of the act incriminated to the person has been substantiated. It is stated that the amount of lost income usually depends not on the behaviour of the actual perpetrator, but primarily on the measures taken or not taken by the victim and the activities of the authorities conducting the criminal proceedings. At the same time, the extent of the consequences caused by a criminal offence or other socially dangerous act should not be determined by shortcomings in the work of state authorities responsible for detecting and investigating such acts. It is justified that lost profits are not damages caused by a criminal offence or other socially dangerous act. Therefore, the burden of proving the relevant circumstances does not lie with the employees of the authorities conducting the criminal proceedings. It should not be established in criminal proceedings even if the civil claimant is prepared to bear the entire burden of proving lost income. It has been established that material, time and other resources in criminal proceedings should be used rationally – to investigate only those circumstances of the proceedings that are subject to proof.