Political expert names possible purpose of ex-MP Pysarenko's meetings with ARMA head Duma

Political expert names possible purpose of ex-MP Pysarenko's meetings with ARMA head Duma

Kyiv  •  UNN

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The political analyst suggests that former MP Pysarenko is negotiating with ARMA head Duma on the transfer of seized assets. The ARMA denies these meetings, but has “back doors” without logs.

Former MP Valeriy Pysarenko is attending meetings with the head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, probably to agree on the retention of seized assets in favor of certain individuals or on their transfer to their former owners. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by political scientist Viktor Bobirenko.

Details

Recently, it became known about possible backroom deals taking place in the ARMA under the leadership of Olena Duma. According to UNN's informed sources, a close associate of the former deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, lawyer and former MP Valeriy Pysarenko, regularly visits the ARMA headquarters in Kyiv to meet personally with Olena Duma. The purpose of his visits is allegedly to discuss the transfer of large seized assets in favor of certain influential individuals, including Yulia Tymoshenko. Among these assets was, for example, the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv.

Immediately after the publication of this material, the ARMA was quick to disassociate itself from these visits. They stated that there were no visitors with the name Valeriy Pysarenko in the log, and that Olena Duma was "not familiar" with the former MP at all.

However, they forgot to mention that their headquarters can be entered through four more "back" entrances and climbed through a window using two fire escapes that have no logs of visits and security. 

"There are influences, connections remain, and we have to take these connections into account if we want to understand something in politics. There may be influence here not only to transfer an asset from ARMA to someone else for management. There may be influence to make ARMA "run on the spot" so that property is not taken away from former members of the Party of Regions or some pro-Russian forces. It can be taken away, or you can run after it as long as you want," noted Viktor Bobirenko.

According to him, these meetings can also discuss how auctions should be held to select an appraiser or manager for seized property.

"There have been, there are and there will be influences, and we can safely predict that these influences, including those related to some people associated with Portnov, are in the interests of the former owners or those who want to acquire the assets now," the political analyst believes.

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ARMA has repeatedly found itself at the epicenter of scandals due to its inefficiency. One of the most recent, which caused a public outcry, concerned about 21,000 Russian-Belarusian railcars that had been idle for more than two years without proper management. According to experts, due to this inaction of the agency, the state lost millions that it could have received by transferring the cars to management.

But as soon as this story became public, the head of the ARMA, Olena Duma, was quick to announce that the agency had chosen a manager for as many as 436 cars out of 21,000.

However, this statement only caused more public outrage. Former MP Ihor Mosiychuk statedthat the Duma could have deliberately delayed the process of finding managers for the Russian-Belarusian railcars, suggesting possible corruption motives and cooperation with the enemy