After criticism, ARMA announces update of seized assets register

The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, following criticism from anti-corruption experts , announced the launch of an updated Register of Seized Assets in early 2025. The modernized database will contain information on land plots, real estate, seized funds and the amount of funds returned to the owners, UNN reports.

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ARMA shall manage the assetsseized in criminal proceedings in order to preserve or increase their economic value. In order to preserve or increase the value of an asset, it must be valued and, by law, entered into the Register of Seized Assets. However, the reality looks different, and a good example of this is the story of concealment of the valuation of the Truskavets sanatorium and the garbage trucks transferred to ARMA.

In its report , Transparency International Ukraine criticized ARMA for the incomplete and numerous shortcomings of the seized property register. The anti-corruption experts recommended that the agency work on filling it out.

Responding to public criticism, Olena Duma announced that the register of seized property would be updated. According to her, the updated database will contain information on foreign currency government bonds; seized assets transferred in the interests of the state under a special procedure; appraisers and reviewers of reports, with relevant documents; ARMA's Interregional Territorial Departments responsible for asset management in the respective territory; and international interagency agreements.

Separate sections of the registry will also cover information on land plots, real estate, seized funds, the amount of funds returned to owners, the number of decisions to lift arrests, as well as residential and non-residential real estate.

"We expect a new Register as early as 2025," the Duma proudly stated.

She also said that in the process of creating the updated registry, ARMA contacted international organizations from Singapore and Portugal. According to the head of the agency, such cooperation helped to expand the capabilities of the future registry. However, she did not provide details on the specific achievements of this cooperation.

The problem is that ARMA, under the leadership of Olena Duma, often reacts only after public pressure and media coverage. The question arises: why does the agency not perform its duties properly from the very beginning? One of the main reasons, according to experts, is possible corruption motives. In particular, security expert Serhiy Shabovta statedthat the Asset Recovery and Management Agency is an instrument of "corruption and embezzlement.

In addition, there are doubts about the political independence of the ARMA leadership. In particular, recently it became known about possible backroom agreements taking place in the ARMA under the leadership of Olena Duma. According to informed sources of UNN, a close associate of the former deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, lawyer and former MP Valeriy Pysarenko, regularly visits the ARMA headquarters in Kyiv to meet personally with Olena Duma. The purpose of his visits is allegedly to discuss the transfer of large seized assets in favor of certain influential individuals, including Yulia Tymoshenko. Among these assets was, for example, the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv.

Immediately after the publication of this material, the ARMA was quick to disassociate itself from these visits. They stated that there were no visitors with the name Valeriy Pysarenko in the log, and that Olena Duma was "not familiar" with the former MP at all.

However, they forgot to mention that their main office can be entered through four more "back" entrances and climbed through a window using two fire escapes, where there are no logs of visits and security.

In general, statements about the non-transparent and ineffective work of the ARMA and its head, Olena Duma, have been made repeatedly. A petition calling for the dismissal of Olena Duma from her post due to her alleged ties to pro-Russian politicians and ineffective management of seized assetshas even appeared on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.