The Accounting Chamber stated that ARMA has not yet taken over the management of all seized assets
Kyiv • UNN
ARMA conducted an inventory of court rulings on asset transfers but did not take all assets under management. The Accounting Chamber identified shortcomings and provided recommendations, some of which have not been implemented.
The National Agency of Ukraine for Identification, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) has conducted a full inventory of court rulings on the transfer of assets to its management, but has not yet taken all these assets under management, UNN reports with reference to the Accounting Chamber.
Details
The Accounting Chamber reported on the results of monitoring the implementation of recommendations, provided based on the results of the audit of compliance with the use of state budget funds and asset management by ARMA.
As stated in the report, auditors found a number of shortcomings that hinder effective management of seized assets and their preservation: in particular, failure to register certain assets, as well as failure to reflect a number of assets in ARMA's accounting records.
To eliminate these shortcomings, the Accounting Chamber provided the Agency with a number of recommendations. In response, ARMA informed, in particular, about:
- updating the Regulations on the Unified State Register of Seized Assets;
- defining performance indicators of ARMA's activities, in particular regarding the effectiveness of asset management;
- preparing draft acts of the Government regarding: the methodology for determining the possibility of asset management; the procedure for selecting managers of simple assets and complex assets, and the procedure for monitoring the effectiveness of asset management.
At the same time, five recommendations of ARMA were not implemented within the specified period:
- regarding ensuring the full acceptance of assets under management, provided for by court decisions, and their subsequent effective management;
- regarding the regulation of ARMA's interaction with prosecutor's offices and pre-trial investigation bodies;
- regarding the improvement of the procedure for monitoring the effectiveness of asset management and the establishment of clear and transparent criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of asset management and preserving their economic value;
- regarding the refinement of the Unified State Register of Assets and the implementation of the software product "ARMA Asset Management System" to automate asset accounting;
- and regarding ARMA's access to the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has also not yet implemented four recommendations of the Accounting Chamber based on this audit, the Accounting Chamber added.
It should be recalled that last year, in implementation of recommendations, provided by the Accounting Chamber, Law of Ukraine No. 4503-IX was adopted, which initiated the reboot of the Agency, strengthening its institutional capacity and comprehensive changes in approaches to managing seized assets. Also, at the legislative level, the stage of asset management planning was introduced before their transfer to the manager.
In total, out of 16 recommendations provided, 7 have been implemented, and 9 are in the process of implementation. The Accounting Chamber continues to monitor the implementation of recommendations and will further inform the public about the status of their implementation.