A state-owned enterprise with access to the data of Ukrainians works with a company founded by a citizen of the Russian Federation

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According to the journalists of the Radio Liberty project, the state-owned enterprise “Dokument” signed a contract with the law firm Schmider & Eckstein, one of the founders of which calls Russia his “second homeland”.

Journalists of the project “How are you?” found out that the company Schmider & For more than 20 years, Eckstein has been providing services to clients from “Russia, Central and Eastern Europe” who want to open a business in Germany, as well as in migration issues, supporting the entire process.

The Ukrainian state-owned enterprise “Dokument” was established in 2003 and since June 2011, by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, it has been in the sphere of management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

The main goal of the enterprise is the introduction of new services and standards of service provision, creation of modern conditions to serve citizens of Ukraine, foreigners and stateless persons.

Currently, “Dokument” has 12 offices in six countries. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, his income has increased significantly. But the State Audit Service discovered a violation of 84 million hryvnias at the beginning of 2024. And some facts from the activities of the state-owned enterprise are being investigated by law enforcement officers. But these are not the only questions for the state-owned enterprise.

What is known about the founders of Schmider & Eckstein

In Germany, where the largest number of Ukrainian refugees live, “Dokument” cooperates with the company Schmider & Eckstein. Both Schmieder and Eckstein have long cooperated with Russia and continue to do so now.

The co-founder of the company, Karl Eckstein, calls Russia his “second homeland” and indicates in his biography on the company's website that he has been cooperating with Moscow for 40 years. Karl Eckstein also held the post of honorary consul of the Russian Federation in Switzerland. The lawyer is a member of the “International Association of Friends of Crimea” — an association created in occupied Crimea in 2017 to legalize the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula and advocate the lifting of sanctions against the Russian Federation with the help of so-called agents of influence.

Karl Eckstein justifies the invasion of the Russian Armed Forces into the territory of Ukraine. Eckstein claims that Putin has “returned a sense of pride to Russians.” The journalists established that Karl Eckstein has been a citizen of the Russian Federation for 20 years, and he received a new passport in 2019.

Frank Schmieder lives and provides his services in Berlin. However, with the help of Russian registers and databases, the journalists of the “Scheme” project established that Shmider has had an individual tax number of the Russian Federation since at least 2001. He also worked in St. Petersburg for a long time. He even published a book about doing business in Russia.

Despite this, in 2022 the Ukrainian state-owned enterprise “Dokument” signed an agreement on the representation of interests on the territory of Germany with Schmider & Eckstein. Journalists of the project “How are you?” got acquainted with copies of the power of attorney and letters that the law firm sent to clients of the state-owned enterprise, and found out that Schmieder and Eckstein had practically unlimited access, in particular, to the personal data of those men who updated their data abroad.

The state-owned enterprise “Dokument” assured that access to Schmider & Eckstein was limited to “data that is necessary to represent the interests of the company” or conduct cases in courts.

They also assured that no one in the law firm “had access to the Unified State Demographic Register or personal data of citizens.”

But the lawyers of Transparency International Ukraine, having familiarized themselves with the power of attorney, note that the powers of the legal company “are quite extensive.” Schmider & Eckstein told reporters that he “doesn't remember” who he worked with and hung up.

We will remind you that at the end of July, the journalists of the “Schemes” project investigated one of the networks of microcredit organizations operating throughout Ukraine. And they found out that its owners are a couple of citizens from the Russian Federation, and their son is a deputy from “United Russia” in occupied Crimea, who supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.