Not only the elimination of MSEC: the chairman of the ARMA Duma emphasized her role in the return of young people to Ukraine

The head of the agency for asset search and management Olena Duma published a post about the return of young professionals to Ukraine, focusing on the agency's role in this process. This topic, which is actively promoted by President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of the economic recovery strategy, seems to be becoming another platform for PR for the head of the ARMA, writes UNN.

"ARMA returns young people to Ukraine... I am proud that young and ambitious specialists are joining the ARMA team. Today I want to tell the story of Elena Alekseenko, who at the age of 24 made a conscious choice to return to Ukraine to develop the state. Olena is a graduate of the Institute of international relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. She already has experience working in international companies, and for the last year she worked as a lawyer in a British law firm. But I decided to return home to apply my experience and knowledge to strengthen Ukraine," Duma wrote on the TG channel.

According to her, now the young specialist will work in the Department of identification, search and return of assets in foreign jurisdictions of the ARMA.

The head of the agency noted that the central office of ARMA already employs a significant part of young specialists - specialists under 35 years of age make up 41% of the team (77 employees).

"This allows us to effectively combine the experience of senior colleagues with the fresh energy and innovative thinking of young people. ARMA's doors are always open to talented professionals who want to change the country. Join the team!",- said Elena Duma.

Interestingly, the topic of returning Ukrainians home is one of the key topics in President Volodymyr Zelensky's speeches. In particular, he emphasizes that the return of Ukrainians from abroad is a key factor for the country's economic recovery.

However, it seems that the Duma is trying to use this strategic idea in its own interests, positioning ARMA as a leader in the return of young professionals. However, so far this is only a special case, and not a large-scale initiative. Isn't this another attempt by the head of the agency to appropriate merit in a topic that actually goes far beyond their competence? Time will tell how realistic the results of such a "return" are for the country as a whole.

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ARMA chairman Elena Duma also actively uses the MSEC theme for her own PR.

she has repeatedly stated that it was her efforts in 2020 that revealed corruption in MSEC, hintingthat this gave rise to the elimination of medical commissions. However, her statements, despite the loud wording, are not supported by specific actions or results. But the manager often mentions "meetings" and "initiatives" that do not lead to real changes in the work of the agency .

The populism of ARMA officials instead of real actions  was also emphasized in Transparency International Ukraine. Anti-corruption activists pointed out that quite often there is "contradictory communication on the part of the Arma or its officials, combined with populism, violation of the presumption of innocence and lack of understanding of the competence of state bodies.

The agency for asset search and management decided not to comment on Transparency International Ukraine's comments about "contradictory communication" on the part of officials of the body, but instead told about their "achievements" in the development of draft laws.

This is not the only criticism of ARMA because of populism. Previously, experts noted that the agency focuses more on politically high-profile cases involving oligarchs than on the effective preservation and management of transferred assets. It is worth noting that Elena Duma in her public speeches repeatedly emphasized among the "achievements" of her work, the transfer of assets of oligarchs Dmitry Firtash, Mikhail Fridman and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ARMA.