ARMA's actions to find a manager for Gulliver shopping center hit the interests of state-owned banks and taxpayers-MP Yanchenko

The fact that the agency for asset search and management did not take into account the interests of state-owned banks, including Oschadbank, when announcing the competition for the selection of a manager for the Gulliver shopping center indicates the lack of professionalism of the body's management and disregard for the interests of the state. This was stated in an exclusive comment for UNN by people's deputy, chairman of the Parliamentary Special Commission for the protection of investors ' rights Galina Yanchenko.

"I think that the reason for such actions is the total lack of professionalism of the ARMA management. I want to say more: actually, this case was the subject of consideration by the Parliamentary Special Commission on investors ' rights, which I head. And actually realizing that in fact the security forces want to seize this working profitable business and transfer it to the ARMA, we called them to a meeting to hear how both the security forces and the ARMA imagine it in general. ARMA refused to come to the call of the parliamentary special commission. That is, this is an absolute lack of professionalism, and a violation of the law on the part of the ARMA. Therefore, unfortunately, anything can be expected from this body, including leveling the law, leveling the interests of the state, the interests of state banks, and the interests of the Ukrainian economy," she said.

According to her, the Gulliver case is an example of the so-called "business nightmare", which is visible even to the naked eye.

"In this story, practically the security forces, and specifically BEB, presented the company with an underpayment in the amount of 150 million hryvnias, despite the fact that the Tax Service had no claims against this company. And for such seemingly unproven non – payment of taxes – 150 million - the security forces from BEB and racketeers from Arma wanted to squeeze out an asset worth 5 billion hryvnias, that is, these are absolutely disproportionate violations, and the real value of the asset that they tried to squeeze out," the MP said.

Yanchenko stressed that by their actions, law enforcement officers and Arma "cause irreparable damage not only to a private enterprise, taking an asset that is worth much more than claims against the company, but also causes huge losses to the state bank.

"This private asset is credited to a bank and this company had to pay a large percentage. Now, after Gulliver is taken away, Oschadbank will not receive anything and will suffer losses. But someone has to cover the losses. And this may lead to the fact that Oschadbank may actually apply for compensation from the state budget – and every Ukrainian taxpayer will be forced to pay extra to cover these losses of Oschadbank. In fact, we can say that these criminal actions of BEB and Arma hit the pocket of every Ukrainian," the MP added.

context

On October 30, ARMA announced a competition to select a manager for the Gulliver shopping center. The head of the agency Elena Duma proudly statedthat she approached the selection of the manager of this high-profile asset as strictly as possible and even set the maximum possible 4 criteria for candidates. Among the conditions that the contest participants must fulfill are the property status with a total value of at least UAH 100 million, a professional team, proven experience in managing similar facilities and confirmed financial viability.

The building of the Gulliver shopping center is collateral for a mortgage loan in state – owned banks, including Oschadbank. However, among the criteria issued by the ARMA, there is not a single mention of the need to pay the loan. 

Oschadbank has repeatedly stated that the decision to transfer Gulliver to ARMA harms the interests of the state bank, because it will deprive it of loan payments from the company that owns the capital's Complex. Losses of Oschadbank due to the termination of loan payments may amount to more than UAH 20 billion.

After the announcement of the competition, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank, responsible for working with NPL Arsen Milyutin in a comment to UNN stated that the State Bank plans to recover in its favor the building of the capital's Gulliver shopping center, if ARMA transfers it to management. He expressed outrage that instead of paying off the loan to state-owned banks, Gulliver's earnings will be given to an "incomprehensible manager.

Only after that and under public pressure, ARMA representatives decided to meet with Arsen Milyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank responsible for working with NPL, to discussand issues of managing the seized asset, which affect the interests of the state bank in terms of paying off loan debts. However, it was not possible to reach a consensus at the meeting and the parties agreed to "continue cooperation".