The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), Olena Duma, commented on the information about the possible transfer of the Gulliver shopping center to Alakor City, a company associated with Russians and former President Petro Poroshenko's entourage. Duma said this during a meeting with journalists, answering questions from UNN.
According to her, the ARMA has already addressed law enforcement agencies with relevant requests to vet all candidates.
"We have sent inquiries to law enforcement agencies and have a response," she said.
At the same time, Duma emphasized that the agency is just beginning to study the third participant in the competition.
"Now we are just starting to study this third participant. I personally have not even seen them (the law enforcement responses - ed.). This is not my competence, I have no right to look at them. There are responsible authorized persons, a working group that will meet, draw up the relevant documents and then submit them for study, and we will see the answers. So, the inspection has been completed," assured the head of the agency.
At the same time, the Duma emphasized that it could not yet disclose any information about Alakor City until the official consideration and decision is made.
"I have no right to voice what I know about the third participant. We will say about it after consideration and decision-making," she concluded.
Thus, so far, ARMA has not officially commented on the information about Alacor City's possible ties to the aggressor country, leaving the issue open.
The Head of ARMA also said that the day before, the working group had decided to disqualify the second participant, but he has the right to appeal this decision to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. At the same time, the agency will not wait for the results of the appeal, but will immediately proceed to consider the third participant.
Recall
On October 30, ARMA announced a competition to select a manager for the Gulliver shopping center. The head of the agency, Olena Duma, proudly stated that she had taken the strictest possible approach to the selection of a manager for this high-profile asset and even set the maximum possible 4 criteria for candidates.
However, experts criticized the establishment of very "narrow" criteria for potential managers of seized property, as in the situation with the tender for the management of the Gulliver shopping center, as this may limit competition and call into question the transparency of the process.
Only three companies competed in the tender for the management of the Kyiv mall. After an audit, ARMA rejected the first and second bidders.
The third company, which is currently the only participant in the competition for the management of Gulliver, according to media and political analysts, belongs to close associates of former President Poroshenko, and its ultimate beneficiary has Russian citizenship.