ARMA under the leadership of Duma acts in the interests of certain political forces - expert on its meetings with former MP Pysarenko

ARMA under the leadership of Duma acts in the interests of certain political forces - expert on its meetings with former MP Pysarenko

Kyiv  •  UNN

October 7 2024, 11:23 AM  •  78015 views

The Asset Recovery Agency is working in favor of those who control its management, says expert Serhiy Shabovta. This leads to a mess with seized assets and inefficiency of ARMA's work.

The Asset Recovery and Management Agency is working in the interests of those who control the head of the agency, Olena Duma, and this leads to a mess with seized assets. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by security expert Serhiy Shabovta.

Details

Recently, it became known about possible backroom deals 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, 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 capital's Gulliver shopping center.

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 "back" entrances and climbed through a window and two fire escapes that have no visitor or security logs.

Serhiy Shabovta believes that the information about the meetings between the head of the ARMA, Olena Duma, and former MP Valeriy Pysarenko is a confirmation of the political bias of this state body.

In his opinion, the ARMA was created with the support of certain political forces, and therefore cannot act independently. He is convinced that the agency works in the interests of those who control its leadership, and this is the main reason for the agency's political bias.

The ARMA feels impunity. And this is shameful and unacceptable. That's why we have such a mess with seized assets, because ARMA is doing everything it can, but not the work it should be doing. Of course, law enforcement should investigate these shameful facts

- he noted.

Add

ARMA has repeatedly been at the center of scandals due to its inefficiency. One of the most recent, which caused a public outcry, concerns about 21 thousand Russian-Belarusian railcarsthat have been idle for more than two years without proper management. According to experts, due to such inactivity of the agency, the state lost millions that it could have received by transferring the railcars to management.

But as soon as this story became public, the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, hastened to announce that the agency had chosen a manager for as many as 436 cars out of 21,000.

However, this statement only caused more public outrage. Former MP Ihor Mosiychuk statedthat the Duma could have deliberately delayed the process of finding managers for the Russian-Belarusian railcars, suggesting possible corruption motives and cooperation with the enemy.