"Mommy's Cosmonauts": Will Satellites Help Find ARMA's Seized Assets
Kyiv • UNN
ARMA signed an agreement with the State Space Agency to gain access to satellite imagery of seized assets. Experts doubt the effectiveness of this initiative and consider it a distraction from the agency's real problems.
The Asset Recovery and Management Agency has decided to conquer new horizons - literally. ARMA's head Olena Duma announced the signing of an agreement with the State Space Agency of Ukraine, thanks to which the agency will gain access to remote sensing data. It sounds ambitious, but does it have any practical basis, UNN investigated.
In her post on the Telegram channel Olena Duma promised that thanks to satellite imagery, the agency will be able to see "high-quality images of objects under ARMA's management - both current and retrospective". According to her, this will allow:
- to track criminal assets around the world from space;
- to provide managers with the opportunity to remotely inspect objects before participating in tenders;
- to quickly record the condition and possible destruction of seized property.
It sounds convincing, but hardly realistic. How exactly will satellite imagery help, for example, to assess the condition of frozen bank accounts or corporate rights? Or maybe it's better to see the condition of seized wagons from space.
The Accounting Chamber's audit revealed significant shortcomings in ARMA's work, including incomplete data in the Unified Register of Seized Assets and imperfections in the existing mechanisms for selecting managers and appraisers of property. But instead of real reforms, ARMA is focusing on high-profile initiatives. Instead of solving urgent problems - for example, establishing cooperation with law enforcement agencies or improving the procedures for tenders for managers, the agency is betting on space.
The natural question arises: is this another attempt by ARMA to attract attention to itself, distracting the public from the real failures in the agency's work? Olena Duma has already tried to create the illusion of innovative activity more than once.
The head of ARMA's statements about "tracking assets anywhere in the world" sound more like a plot for a science fiction series than a real action plan. And although cooperation with the State Space Agency looks impressive, it is most likely not going to solve any of the urgent problems facing ARMA.
Despite the loud statements about the "space breakthrough", the main question remains open: will this initiative become a real tool in the agency's work, or will it remain another attempt to create the illusion of success?
