The Asset Recovery and Management Agency has been operating without any public control for almost three months. This happened because all members of the public council resigned, accusing the agency of non-transparency and creating artificial obstacles to public oversight, UNN writes.
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At a meeting on September 23, all members of the public council decided to resign due to systematic violations of the law on public involvement in ARMA's activities by the ARMA leadership. The council members stated that their appeals were regularly ignored and access to discussions of regulations was blocked. This deprived the public of the opportunity to exercise real control over the management of seized property.
It is worth noting that the head of the ARMA, Olena Duma, who regularly emphasizes her "transparency" and "openness" on social media, has never mentioned the crisis with public control. In three months, she has not even hinted at the need to form a new Public Council or to return the mechanism of public oversight to the agency.
Adding to the concern is the fact that experts have repeatedly questioned the political independence of ARMA's work under the leadership of Olena Duma. The agency's leadership has even had to defend itself for possible ties to odious figures such as Oleh Kulinich, who is accused of treason, and Valeriy Pysarenko, who is a close associate of former deputy chief of staff to Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov.
The absence of a public council at the ARMA calls into question the transparency of the agency's work, especially against the background of numerous scandals. This situation is worrisome, as the lack of public oversight significantly increases the risks of corruption schemes and opportunities for abuse by the agency's management, which in turn only increases distrust of both ARMA and its head, Olena Duma.
Only an external independent audit that would cover the entire period of the agency's work under Olena Duma's leadership can remedy the situation and prove that ARMA is truly working transparently without a public council and control.
Is the ARMA leadership ready to return public oversight and undergo an independent audit? This is a question that is long overdue.