Garbage Trucks in the Shadows: How ARMA Ignores the Requirement to Evaluate Seized Assets

The Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) must manage assets seized in criminal proceedings in order to preserve or increase their economic value. In order to preserve or increase the value of an asset, it must be valued and, by law, entered into the Register of Seized Assets. However, the reality looks different and a good example of this is the story of the garbage trucks transferred to ARMA, UNN writes.

As noted on the ARMA website, 19 garbage trucks were transferred to the management of the Municipal Road Department back in November 2023. Before concluding this agreement, according to the law, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency had to evaluate this special equipment and indicate the results of the evaluation in the Register of Seized Assets.

However, the Register of Seized Assets does not contain a single mention of the valuation of these cars or their transfer to management. Moreover, there is no data on the revenues that should have come to the state budget from the use of these vehicles.

This raises several logical questions: what is happening to the seized assets under ARMA's management, why does the agency not report on their use and income, and where is the head of the state agency, Olena Duma, looking?

The lack of transparent reports and systematic work may indicate serious problems in asset management. And this is just one example of many.

The ARMA is obliged to comply with the law, but instead of real results, we see examples of selective fulfillment of its duties. All these assets could bring in funds to the budget, but it seems that the system is idle.

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One of the main tasks of the ARMA is to manage assets seized in criminal proceedings in order to preserve or increase their economic value. In recent years, ARMA has accumulated a lot of property that could not only generate revenue for the state budget, but also be useful during a full-scale war.

For example, most of the sanatoriums transferred to ARMA could accept wounded soldiers for rehabilitation or provide shelter for IDPs.

In addition, ARMA has a lot of heavy equipment that could work for the benefit of the state. Excavators and bulldozers could be used to strengthen the defense or rebuild infrastructure, but in fact they are idle.

So the question arises as to why ARMA under Olena Duma focuses on formalities and bureaucracy instead of real asset management in the interests of the state.