ARMA avoids self-criticism and turned the reform into an information war — Transparency International Ukraine

Transparency International Ukraine conducted a content analysis of the public communication of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. Anti-corruption experts came to the conclusion that instead of a constructive dialogue on reforming the institution, ARMA built a campaign to discredit draft law No. 12374-d on changing the system of managing seized property and avoids any public recognition of its own mistakes, writes UNN.

Details

According to experts, the reform of ARMA has become one of the main topics in the agency's communication recently - in general, from February 1 to April 16, 2025, 25% of all communication on the Fb page was devoted to draft law No. 12374-d.

During this time, the tone of the agency's communication gradually changed, and after April 11, it became categorically negative towards draft law No. 12374-d - loud accusations were made: from "political bias" to "violation of the Constitution" and "threat to the anti-corruption system".

Transparency International Ukraine noted that ARMA constantly changed the emphasis in its communication, sometimes denying its own theses that it had made earlier. 

The only message that did not change was that ARMA has been reforming since 2023. Such an approach in the communication of a state body is difficult to call constructive 

At the same time, ARMA's publications never mentioned failures or problems in the agency's work, which should have become the basis for a deep reform.

In addition, representatives of the agency did not cover the positive changes contained in draft law No. 12374-d at all - ARMA focused only on its criticism, often "manipulating facts" or referring to outdated versions of the document.

ARMA's manipulative and selective approach to communication about draft law 12374-d indicates that ARMA directs all its communication activity to the non-acceptance of this particular version of the draft law. Despite all the positive changes in it, the Agency's messages imply that the draft law does not provide any advantages for the management and sale of seized assets, as well as for the body itself. And this contradicts the real feedback and assessments of this normative act by various state bodies and representatives of the expert community 

Let us remind you

Recently, Olena Duma once again criticized draft law No. 12374-d on the reform of ARMA, which has already been supported by the parliament in the first reading. She stated that the document "contains politically motivated norms" and "may harm the entire anti-corruption infrastructure". At the same time, she herself called her work at ARMA a "real breakthrough." At the same time, the head of the Verkhovna Rada's anti-corruption committee, Anastasia Radina, believes that Olena Duma and her colleagues "deliberately spread false information" about the draft law on the reform of ARMA in order to preserve the existing ineffective system.

Transparency International Ukraine actually supported the position of Anastasia Radina and stated that the resistance of the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, is nothing more than a reluctance to get rid of levers of influence. 

Let's add

Earlier, Anastasia Radina noted that maintaining a constructive dialogue with ARMA is constantly complicated by manipulations. She cited three examples that demonstrate how the agency distorts data about its activities. One of them, Radina, cited the case when the anti-corruption committee asked ARMA how many assets they have and how many of them have been transferred to management? The agency reported that there are 69,000 assets in the register and 36,000 have been transferred to management, i.e. about 47%. However, a detailed analysis revealed that 20,000 of these 36,000 assets are movable property of Mezhyhiria, including bottles of wine, furniture and documents, which has no independent economic value.