Scandals in ARMA prove that changes need to start with an audit and dismissal of management

While the parliament is delaying the adoption of the draft law on the reform of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, this body continues to be at the center of scandals. Recent high-profile stories only emphasize the need to change the system of managing seized property and reboot the agency's leadership, writes UNN.

The latest scandal with the transfer of seized property under management is likely just a symptom of problems in the system. The head of the Verkhovna Rada's anti-corruption committee, Anastasia Radina, directly stated that the Russian share of corporate rights of the company "Venta.LTD" is transferred to the management of persons probably related to the owner. And this despite the fact that the head of ARMA Olena Duma publicly promised not to allow such a scenario.

In addition, the other day journalists found that the House of Trade Unions on Independence Square was transferred to the management of a consortium, which includes a company that may be related to relatives of a current member of the Government. Olena Duma tried to maximally divert attention from this scandal and even accused journalists of "wrong priorities".

Against this background, the delay in the adoption in the second reading of draft law No. 12374-d, which provides not only a new model for the management of seized assets, but also an independent audit of ARMA's activities, looks strange. It is a transparent and independent audit that should give an objective assessment of the agency's work and the effectiveness of management and the conditions under which certain decisions regarding assets were made.

Experts are convinced that ARMA in its current form has become a mechanism for serving private interests.

In this format, in which it currently functions, it seems to me that it is extremely ineffective, non-transparent, and it is the solution of some skin problems, someone's interests of service, and not the work of the structure

Conducting an independent audit and further rotation of leadership is not a "political decision", as Olena Duma tries to present it, but a logical consequence of reforming the system. If the audit proves that the management was ineffective or contributed to abuses, personnel decisions will be the only logical conclusion of the system's renewal. In the meantime, delaying the adoption of the law on ARMA reform only creates a window of opportunity for further abuses. The ARMA reform is not about personal sympathies or antipathies, but about cleaning up the system and creating a mechanism that will really work. And this cleansing must begin with the head.

Let us remind you

ARMA under the leadership of Olena Duma has repeatedly been at the center of scandals with seized property. Recent scandals once again only emphasize the arguments in favor of the urgent adoption of draft law 12374-d on reforming the system of management of seized property, which also provides for a transparent audit of the agency's work and new conditions for the appointment of the leadership of this body. 

Olena Duma has repeatedly criticized this draft law No. 12374-d on ARMA reform, which has already been supported by the parliament in the first reading. She stated that the document "contains politically motivated norms" and "may harm the entire anti-corruption infrastructure". At the same time, she herself calls her work in ARMA a "real breakthrough". At the same time, the head of the Verkhovna Rada's anti-corruption committee, Anastasia Radina, believes that Olena Duma and her colleagues "deliberately spread false information" about the draft law on ARMA reform in order to preserve the existing ineffective system.

Transparency International Ukraine actually supported Anastasia Radina's position and stated that the resistance of the head of ARMA Olena Duma is nothing more than a reluctance to get rid of levers of influence. Anti-corruption experts conducted a content analysis of ARMA's public communication and concluded that instead of a constructive dialogue on reforming the institution, the agency built a campaign to discredit draft law No. 12374-d on changing the system of managing seized property and avoids any public recognition of its own mistakes.