PR on MSEC again: how ARMA chairman Elena Duma turns meetings and appeals into fake achievements

This is not the first time that the head of the agency for asset search and management, Elena Duma, has used the topic of MSEC's corrupt assets to create her own image. However, instead of concrete actions, she talks about meetings and suggests discussing changes to the legislation, writes UNN.

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In her post on the TG Channel , Alena Duma once again notedthat Arma has already found a significant amount of assets in the MSEC case and is ready to manage them. At the same time, instead of a report on real results, the chairman of the ARMA talks about "meetings", "initiatives" and the need for legislative changes. But such statements have been made before, without any noticeable changes in the agency's work.

In particular, Elena Duma spoke about the meeting with the chairman of the VAKS and noted the need to change the norms for the transfer of material evidence to the ARMA in the Civil Code. In addition, the head of the agency said that the seized funds should not "just be stored as material evidence." However, this raises the question – isn't"Asset Managementthat has been seized in criminal proceedings in order to preserve " one of the main activities of the agency for asset search and management? 

"I call on law enforcement agencies, courts and related institutions to cooperate in solving this systemic problem. Every Hryvnia of corrupt assets should work to restore justice and strengthen our state," Olena Duma said, emphasizing the importance of her initiative and thereby actually hinting that it is her agency that does the most to fill the budget, unlike other institutions.

Corrupt assets could indeed work for the economy and defense, but this requires not just statements, but a clear strategy and responsible leadership.

Elena Duma has previously emphasized several times  her "role" in exposing corruption schemes in the MSEC and hintedthat it was her efforts in 2020 that gave rise to exposing corruption schemes in the MSEC. Then the chairman of the ARMA not only described her "heroic path" in the fight against corruption, but also indirectly attributed to herself the merits for the elimination of medical commissions.

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Transparency International Ukraine , on the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the creation of ARMA , statedthat now this body requires significant reform and practically does not meet the European standards according to which it was created. 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 notedthat 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.