Political analyst: “Excellent” rating for Duma is a formality that masks ARMA's inaction
Kyiv • UNN
Political analyst Vitaliy Kulyk criticized the positive assessment of the work of ARMA Head Olena Duma, calling it a formality. According to him, the agency demonstrates inactivity and does not fulfill its main functions of asset management.
The “excellent” rating for the head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma, based on the results of her performance appraisal in 2024, does not reflect the real state of affairs in the structure she heads. This opinion was expressed by political scientist Vitaliy Kulyk in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
I myself have criticized the work of ARMA, I consider it unsatisfactory. And there are a lot of questions to her as a leader... What is the specificity of the work of the current ARMA leadership - it is difficult to accuse them of any ineffective activity, because they are completely inactive
In his opinion, the main criticisms of the ARMA leadership are negligence and criminal inaction.
“They (ARMA employees - ed.) did not use their powers to take over certain objects or assets, did not hold tenders quickly and did not find a manager, thus causing damage to these companies, or initiated processes that, in my opinion, were motivated. And in fact, I see continuous inaction,” the political scientist emphasized.
Kulyk also criticized the approach to evaluating the agency's work, which is based on formal indicators and statistics, which, according to him, is reminiscent of Soviet practices.
These figures that they draw for themselves to get positive assessments and the same awards are the so-called official statistics. It's like in Soviet times... In fact, when ARMA was launched, they were primarily focused on the assets of the Yanukovych regime and, of course, Russian assets. However, ARMA is overly active in some motivated cases, and does not see the need to use all the tools to establish control over Russian assets and, accordingly, take them away from their nominal owners
In his opinion, the government's positive assessment of ARMA's activities is the result of a lack of political will.
“I think this is a lack of political will. There is official statistics, there are KPIs that are set formally, and they were measured, and that's a positive assessment,” Vitaliy Kulyk added.
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Under Olena Duma's leadership, ARMA has repeatedly been at the center of high-profile scandals. One of the most recent was an investigation into possible fake disability certificates that agency employees received. Experts emphasized that if the allegations are confirmed, this should not only be grounds for resignation, but also an impetus for a large-scale review of the agency's work .
In addition, anti-corruption organizations, including Transparency International Ukraine, have repeatedly criticized the agency for not meeting European standards. They emphasized populism, contradictory communication, and violation of the presumption of innocence in cases handled by the ARMA.
The political independence of the agency under the leadership of Olena Duma also raises additional questions. The ARMA leadership has even had to defend itself for possible ties to odious figures such as Oleh Kulinich, who is accused of treason, and Valeriy Pysarenko, who is a close associate of Andriy Portnov, former deputy head of the Yanukovych administration.
Another important aspect is the lack of public control over the agency's activities. The Public Council at ARMA dissolved itself three months ago due to systematic violations of the requirements for public involvement. This situation, according to former members of the public council, is beneficial to the head of the agency, Olena Duma, because the lack of control allows her to avoid public consideration of controversial issues.
