MP: Low capacity of ARMA requires immediate changes in asset management

International partners are demanding fundamental changes in the management of assets transferred to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), as the current system cannot cope with a large amount of property and is inefficient. This was stated in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Oleksiy Movchan, MP, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Economic Development.

"In order to receive a EUR 50 billion loan from the Ukraine Facility, we have a requirement to change the approach to asset management at ARMA. That is, what is clear now is that something needs to be changed," he said.

According to him, ARMA's capacity is currently low because the agency cannot handle the number of assets that are being transferred to it. The situation has not improved under the new head, Olena Duma.

"It is obvious that the current approaches need to be changed... It is difficult to say how exactly this should happen now, but the current institution of managers is very crooked and inefficient," Movchan said.

The MP explained that under the terms of the current instrument for selecting managers for seized assets, there is very little competition. Over the previous year, ARMA selected only about 50 managers, which is "not a result.

Context

The Ukraine Facility program envisages providing 50 billion euros to Ukraine over the next four years. As reported by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the requirements for the funding include, among other things, the reform of the ARMA in the first quarter of 2025, which should include changes in the selection of the agency's head and a transparent procedure for managing and selling seized assets.

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Statements about the non-transparent and ineffective work of the ARMA and its head, Olena Duma, have been made repeatedly. The website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine even published a petition calling for the dismissal of Olena Duma from her position due to her alleged ties to pro-Russian politicians and ineffective management of seized assets.

In addition, all members of the ARMA Public Council have recently resigned. At the meeting, they emphasized the lack of transparency in the work of the ARMA and the fact that the agency creates artificial obstacles to the implementation of public control over its activities. They also stated that the ARMA leadership systematically ignores their appeals and does not involve them in the development of regulations, in violation of the law.

Ihor Chobitko, the former chairman of the public council at the ARMA, in a commentary to UNN , emphasizedthat after the self-dissolution of the public council, the ARMA was left without external control, and therefore cannot be called transparent.

Former head of the ARMA legal department Andriy Potemkin believesthat the head of the ARMA Olena Duma is afraid of public scrutiny because she has something to hide.