ARMA audit: experts demand responsibility of the Duma and changes in the agency's work

The results of the Accounting Chamber's audit of the ARMA confirmed systemic problems in the agency's work. In particular, the auditors found that 80% of the decisions to transfer assets to ARMA have not been implemented, competitions for asset managers last for years, and the state could have lost millions during the full-scale war due to inefficient asset management. Against the backdrop of these disappointing findings, experts emphasize that the agency's management should be held responsible for the failed processes, and the asset management system itself needs to be radically reformed, UNN writes.

According to the auditors, the main problems of the agency's work are as follows:

• imperfect mechanisms for selecting managers and appraisers of confiscated assets; 
• incomplete data on assets in the register; 
• unregulated relations between ARMA and the prosecutor's office and pre-trial investigation authorities at the stage of transfer and acceptance of assets.

Experts emphasize the need for changes in ARMA

Political expert Vitaliy Kulyk emphasizedthat the report of the Accounting Chamber should become the basis not only for reforms, but also for investigating the agency's activities.

"In my opinion, the report should definitely be the subject of an investigation, a reboot of the ARMA, not only in terms of the name of the head, but also in terms of the system - how decisions are made, how it reports, how the ARMA communicates with stakeholders," the expert said in a comment to UNN.

Political scientist Serhiy Shabovta pointed outthat ARMA has been operating as a non-transparent asset management mechanism from the very beginning.

"The key problem is that ARMA was created and described in the regulations in such a way as to be an instrument of corrupt actions, to conceal the real money received for this or that property," the expert emphasized in a comment to UNN.

The anti-corruption organization Transparency International also believesthat the report of the Accounting Chamber confirms the need to reform the agency.

"It should be noted that the rather disappointing audit results for ARMA can be a qualitative basis for reforming the Agency in accordance with the requirements of the Ukraine Facility Plan," the organization said.

The results of the ARMA audit were reviewed by the Verkhovna Rada's Anti-Corruption Committee. According to members of the committee, the discussion with the agency's representatives was frank, and MPs drew ARMA's attention to problematic issues that need to be addressed.

Therefore, it is obvious that without management responsibility and systemic changes, the situation at ARMA will remain unchanged, and assets will continue to be idle, bringing only losses to the state.