The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, is once again using high-profile topics for self-promotion, this time commenting on the detention of KRAIL Chairman Ivan Rudyi and emphasizing the need to transfer his property to ARMA. However, it is worth noting that Duma started commenting on the detention before law enforcement officially reported it, UNN writes.
In her post on social media, the Head of ARMA notedthat the official's assets should be transferred to ARMA's management, stating: “We know exactly what to do with them”.
However, at the time of publication, there was no official confirmation of Rudyi's detention or serving of a notice of suspicion - only the media reported this with reference to sources. Such a statement looks like a premature draw of attention to itself, which diminishes the importance of the work of law enforcement agencies, in particular the SBI and the PGO, which are directly involved in the investigation. Or was the Head of ARMA trying to tell law enforcement what to do next?
In her post, Duma emphasizes the importance of coordinated work of state bodies, but at the same time, her words can be perceived as devaluing the role of the SBI and the PGO. Their work is presented as secondary, while ARMA is positioned as the main “decider” in the fate of assets, even before the facts are confirmed, not only of the seizure of the assets of the head of KRAIL, but also of him.
Experts have repeatedly criticized ARMA Head Olena Duma for such behavior, accusing her of trying to use high-profile cases to boost her own image and divert attention from problems in the agency's work.
Recall
Earlier, Olena Duma tried to promote herself on the topic of the MSEC. She has repeatedly emphasized her “role” in exposing corruption schemes at the MSEC and hintedthat it was her efforts in 2020 that gave impetus to the exposure of corruption schemes at the MSEC. At that time, the Head of the ARMA not only described her “heroic path” of fighting corruption, but also indirectly took credit for the liquidation of medical commissions.
At the same time, Transparency International Ukraine emphasizedthat ARMA often has “contradictory communication from the agency or its officials, combined with populism, violation of the presumption of innocence and lack of understanding of the competence of state bodies”.
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency decided not to comment on Transparency International Ukraine's remarks about “contradictory communication” on the part of the agency's officials, and instead spoke about their “achievements” in drafting laws.
This is not the only criticism of the ARMA due to populism. Earlier, experts emphasizedthat the agency focuses more on politically high-profile cases related to oligarchs than on the effective preservation and management of transferred assets. It is worth noting that in her public speeches, Olena Duma has repeatedly emphasized the transfer of assets of oligarchs Dmytro Firtash, Mikhail Fridman and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ARMA as one of the “achievements” of her work.