Populism and violation of the presumption of innocence: Transparency International calls for reform of the ARMA

The Asset Recovery and Management Agency needs to be significantly reformed, as it does not meet the European standards for which it was created. The lack of transparency in handling seized assets, the absence of an independent assessment, and the politicization of the competition for the head of the agency are the main problems that undermine confidence in the institution. This was stated by Transparency International Ukraine on the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the ARMA, UNN reports.

Anti-corruption activists pointed out that the ARMA was supposed to be a compact, highly qualified body with broad powers, high guarantees of independence and a sufficient level of control by professionals and the public.

"But, unfortunately, today's agency does not meet these criteria at all. Quite often, we can observe contradictory communication from ARMA or its officials, combined with populism, violation of the presumption of innocence and lack of understanding of the competence of state bodies," the organization noted.

Transparency International has made a number of recommendations for a comprehensive reform of the ARMA:

- to change the rules for selecting the head of the Agency, which will require narrowing the number of commission members, reducing the politicization of the process, and supplementing the competition with clear rules for evaluating candidates;

- increase transparency, especially in the management of seized assets. Currently, these processes are overly complicated for both owners of seized property and potential managers, and ARMA itself often delays tenders;

- change the rules for external independent evaluation of ARMA's work, in particular, reduce the number of members of the evaluation commission to three, and appoint them to the Cabinet of Ministers based on proposals from international partners;

- introduce full-fledged pre-arrest planning;

- to prioritize the seizure of assets by criminal courts over other security measures in other jurisdictions;

- unlock the ability to manage corporate rights.

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The EU Delegation to Ukraine also calls for reform of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. The diplomatic body emphasized that the reform should include several important aspects, such as transparent selection of the head of ARMA, which includes verification of his integrity and professionalism. It is also necessary to create an independent system of external evaluation of the agency's activities and ensure transparency of the procedure for managing and selling assets transferred to ARMA.

In general, statements about the non-transparent and ineffective work of the ARMA and its head, Olena Duma, have been made repeatedly. 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 assetshas even appeared on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

In addition, more than months ago all members of the public council under ARMA resigned from their positions. Thus, ARMA has been left without external control at all, and therefore the activities of this body cannot be called transparent.