The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, has responded to criticism of her political bias and links to traitors, saying that all the accusations are only because she is "afraid". She said this in an interview with the BBC.
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The appointment of Olena Duma to the position of the Head of the ARMA caused a wave of criticism, and anti-corruption experts have repeatedly emphasized her dubious political connections. In particular, it is known that Duma had contacts with Oleh Kulinich, a former SBU officer accused of treason. Due to the numerous facts of Olena Duma's alleged work for pro-russian forces, the Cabinet of Ministers has even been asked to immediately dismiss her from her position.
In an interview with the BBC, Olena Duma did not deny her ties to Kulinich, but she considers such accusations "ridiculous.
I have heard many such names. I did know Kulinich in 2008-2009. And I find such accusations ridiculous, because we are civil servants and we have to know people, meet at working meetings, conferences, and visit each other's offices. We have joint plans, events, and so on... I have a question. Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko was the Prime Minister at the time. Are there any accusations against her that she knew him?
She is convinced that the accusations have only one reason: the fear of her opponents.
This shows one thing - they are afraid of me. The second thing is that there is no evidence or accusation regarding my professional work and results. When there is nothing to say, unfortunately, other mechanisms are activated that should not have taken place at all during the war
The head of the ARMA also stated that she is absolutely politically impartial, but at the same time does not deny that she organized rallies for presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyi in 2019.
"I was the organizer of the rallies in 2019. This is in the media and is not a secret. I definitely did not vote for Poroshenko and I definitely voted for President Zelensky. I am an impartial person, I have never been a member of any political force. But I can say that President Zelensky is applauded, has been applauded, and I believe that they will applaud when Ukraine wins the war. He was the one who was able to unite Ukraine and was not afraid to take off his tie and diplomatic jacket and go to every country to ask for help. I don't see any other person who could do that in 2022," Olena Duma emphasized without any hint of ‘bias’.
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In general, statements about the non-transparent and ineffective work of the ARMA and its head, Olena Duma, have been made repeatedly. The website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine even published a petition calling for the dismissal of Olena Duma due to her alleged ties to pro-Russian politicians and ineffective management of seized assets.
In addition, more than three weeks ago, all members of the public council under ARMA resigned. At the meeting, they emphasized the lack of transparency in the work of the ARMA and the fact that the agency creates artificial obstacles to the implementation of public control over its activities. They also stated that the ARMA management systematically ignores their appeals and does not involve them in the development of regulations, in violation of the law.
Ihor Chobitko, the former chairman of the Public Council under the ARMA, emphasized in a commentary to UNN that after the self-dissolution of the Public Council, the ARMA was left without external control, and therefore the activities of the ARMA cannot be called transparent.