The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, has found a way to keep bidders quiet. She openly gave a signal to potential managers: if they plan to challenge the agency's actions in the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, they risk becoming involved in criminal cases, UNN writes.
Details
In August 2024, ARMA announced an open tender for the management of the assets of Romerm LLC, Yermom LLC, and Yermak Holod LLC. Two bidders took part in the tender, including Ukraine Development and Consulting Group LLC, which twice appealed ARMA's actions to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, which accordingly delayed the procedure for more than two months.
According to Olena Duma, after the auction was completed, ARMA discovered that the documents of this participant allegedly contained false information and turned to the National Police. Law enforcement officers opened criminal proceedings, and investigative actions are underway.
"ARMA uncovered falsification of documents during the tender for the management of the ROMERM plant... This is the first time that a potential manager of seized assets has become a defendant in a criminal case due to submission of false documents.... I emphasize that any attempts to manipulate the tender procedures and submit forged documents will have legal consequences. We will continue to ensure legality, transparency and integrity in all tender procedures, protecting the public interest," said the Head of ARMA.
However, this statement by the head of the agency raises many questions. First, the mere fact that an appeal has been filed with the National Police does not mean that the company is guilty, but only that an investigation is underway. However, the Head of ARMA has already made conclusions.
Secondly, its message is obviously not directed at a specific tenderer, but at all potential bidders. It actually hints that if you challenge the ARMA's actions in the AMCU, you should be prepared to be made a "person of interest" as well.
Thus, this statement looks like an attempt to intimidate potential bidders who may disagree with ARMA's actions. Then a logical question arises: if the agency is so afraid of appeals to the AMCU, does this not indicate that its tender procedures are far from perfect?
Recall
The ARMA has repeatedly been the focus of criticism by Transparency International Ukraine for not meeting European standards and for "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 understandably does not want to comment on such statements by anti-corruption activistsand only talks about its "achievements" in drafting laws.