Information support for economic expertise in Ukraine under martial law

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to substantiate approaches to the formation, verification and use of information for economic expertise in Ukraine, taking into account the challenges of wartime. The object of the study is the processes of information support for economic expertise, including data sources, access to them, their verification, protection of integrity and evidentiary use in proceedings and disputes. The article defines the content and key components of information support for economic expertise in Ukraine and characterizes its role as a basis for objective expert opinions in litigation, criminal proceedings, tax conflicts and procedures related to compensation for damage. It is established that in the context of the full-scale armed invasion of the Russian Federation since February 2022, the value of the verified data has increased due to a sharp increase in requests for damage calculations, control over the use of budgetary and donor resources, as well as reconstruction planning, the needs of which, according to a joint assessment of the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations, amount to 524 billion US dollars as of December 31, 2024 for the next decade. It is proven that the evidentiary value of economic expertise directly depends on the completeness, traceability and legal correctness of the sources, as well as on the ability of the expert to document the origin of each indicator. It is substantiated that public procurement is one of the most information-rich environments for expert verification, since the volume of competitive procurement in 2024 increased to 841 billion hryvnias, which forms significant data sets for analyzing prices, volumes and compliance with procedures. The study can contribute to understanding how to increase the reliability and evidentiary value of expert opinions by clarifying approaches to the formation of an information base, its verification, documenting the origin of indicators, and managing the risks of working with electronic materials.