Disability marathon: can the head of ARMA Duma avoid responsibility

The Asset Recovery and Management Agency is once again at the center of a scandal. This time, the reason for this was the vetting of certain ARMA employees for receiving allegedly fictitious disability documents. Such scandals severely damage the reputation of the state body, and experts and the public are beginning to talk about the need to change the leadership of the ARMA, UNN writes.

Details

On October 25, the National Police launched a criminal investigation into forgery and abuse of office. According to the investigation, employees of medical and social expert commissions (MSECs) organized the issuance of knowingly forged documents on disability to ARMA officials in order to obtain undue advantage and abuse of office. This allowed the latter to receive a deferral from service in the Armed Forces and pension payments. The police are currently checking five officials of the agency. As UNN has learned from its own sources, among them is the advisor to the head of the ARMA, Oleksandr Danilkovych.

Thus, the ARMA has actually taken over the "disability marathon" from prosecutors. The scandal with the disabled prosecutors led to the resignation of Andriy Kostin from the post of Prosecutor General.

Olena Duma, probably afraid of repeating the "career" of former Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, immediately cooperated with law enforcement and provided all the necessary information about employees who have a disability group. 

Experts in their comments to UNN noted that such violations in the state structure could not have taken place without the knowledge, or even participation, of Olena Duma. They also emphasized that the head of the agency should take moral responsibility and resign if the information that her subordinates received fictitious certificates of disabilityis confirmed. 

In addition, experts emphasize that if the charges are confirmed, this should not only be grounds for resignation, but also an impetus for a large-scale review of the agency's work.

The public has also reacted strongly to the information about allegedly fake disability certificates and is convinced that this case is another example of corruption and inefficiency of state bodies. Ukrainians demand not only an investigation, but also concrete steps to clean up the agency.

Time will tell whether these accusations will remain mere suspicions or develop into serious personnel decisions. However, it is already clear that this situation carries reputational risks for ARMA and its leadership.