The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, has finally responded to the criticism from the Accounting Chamber regarding issues with asset management. She announced that the selection of managers for seized assets will be conducted through the electronic system ProZorro.Sales. However, she did not specify when exactly this initiative will be implemented, reports UNN.
According to the conclusions of the Accounting Chamber, ARMA does not have clear criteria for selecting appraisers and managers. One of the auditors' recommendations was to establish clear and transparent criteria for the competitive selection of managers and to improve the procedure for conducting electronic auctions for transferring assets into management.
After two months, the agency has finally acknowledged the criticism, although it has so far limited itself to a statement without specific deadlines for implementation. In her post, Duma talked about the anniversary of ARMA's cooperation with ProZorro.Sales and provided statistics on the sale of seized assets. At the same time, she stated that "the expansion of the management mechanism" should be the next step for the agency.
Duma's statement can be seen as an attempt to demonstrate a reaction to the audit, but without real actions, it will remain just another PR statement. Whether the implementation of the competitive selection of managers through ProZorro.Sales will become a real reform or will remain at the level of promises – time will tell.
Reminder
The Accounting Chamber conducted an audit of ARMA for the years 2022-2023 and the first half of 2024, which revealed significant problems in the management of seized assets. In particular, the auditors emphasized the following issues:
- the imperfection of the mechanisms for selecting managers and appraisers of confiscated assets;
- incomplete data about assets in the registry;
- unregulated relationships between ARMA and the prosecution authorities and pre-trial investigation bodies.
However, the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, called the audit "an unprecedented step towards ensuring maximum transparency". She emphasized the record growth in the agency's revenues, the implementation of new management mechanisms, and improved indicators in 2024. At the same time, the head of the agency avoided comments on the problems identified during the audit.
In Transparency International Ukraine, based on the results of the audit, pointed out the need to reform ARMA. Anti-corruption experts indicated that the agency's activities currently raise serious concerns, including among international partners.