Special report - How scams and shakedowns brought Ukraine to its knees

Then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich arrives to sign an EU-mediated peace deal with opposition leaders at the presidential headquarters in Kiev in this February 21, 2014 file photo. REUTERS/Konstantin Chernichkin/Files

KIEV (Reuters) - Late last year, Ukraine’s consumer protection agency began filing lawsuits against Foxtrot, the country’s largest electronics retailer. By early March, Foxtrot faced at least 231 separate suits that demanded fines totalling more than $150 million (89.13 million British pound).

Many of the suits accused the company of minor violations of Ukraine’s labelling law – such as not placing a "quality seal" on tiny memory cards and wafer-thin batteries inside mobile phones. Foxtrot said it placed the seals on the external packaging, which the law also allows.