The head of ARMA "publicly lies" about the agency's income - Radina appeals to the OGP, Duma justifies herself

The head of the Verkhovna Rada Anti-Corruption Committee, Anastasia Radina, stated that the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, is "publicly lying" about the state's income from asset management, and is also trying to hide the real indicators of her work from the public. In this regard, the MP appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, writes UNN.

Details

According to Anastasia Radina, ARMA refused to provide public data on assets under the agency's management. The response to her deputy's request was marked "for official use only" (DSK), although such requests were previously satisfied openly.

The head of ARMA is publicly lying about the fact that in 2024 the income for the state from asset management amounted to UAH 12.3 billion - the real amount of income is six times less. Moreover, ARMA began to hide the real results of its work from the public... Prior to this, ARMA provided answers to all my similar requests openly. The information requested by me is subject to publication in the ARMA report in accordance with the law. Disclosure of information on funds received from asset management is mandatory in accordance with the law on ARMA. The Law "On Access to Public Information" prohibits classifying information that was previously published as DSK. Therefore, the attempt by the head of ARMA to hide important information about assets under state management and income from their management behind the DSK stamp is illegal 

Radina stated that she is appealing to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights regarding the agency's unreasonable restriction of access to public information and to the Office of the Prosecutor General regarding obstruction of the activities of a People's Deputy of Ukraine.

An even more egregious fact, according to the MP, is ARMA's manipulation of the agency's income. Duma has repeatedly stated that in 2024, ARMA brought UAH 12.3 billion in income to the state. However, the real figures turned out to be completely different.

Since Ms. Duma did not impose a DSK stamp on her response to my similar request, dated the end of October 2024, we will use it: for 2024, the income from the management of assets and seized funds at that time amounted to UAH 2.1 billion 

Moreover, an analysis of official documents shows that the UAH 10.5 billion, which was included in the total figure, is the arrested funds of defendants in criminal cases that are on deposits and in government bonds. 

However, the amount of funds seized from the defendants is in no way and cannot be ARMA's income from the management of seized assets - this is absurd, and the head of the agency, it seems, is deliberately misleading the public... The mildest words that can be used to describe the state of management of seized assets in ARMA are deception and mess, through which the state is underreceiving millions of hryvnias 

What does Duma say?

The head of the Agency for Search and Management of Assets, Olena Duma, in response to Radina's accusations stated that she "will operate with facts", but her justifications are more like a confirmation of doubts about the transparency of the agency's work.

It is very sad that the arrested funds, with which we replenished the agency's portfolio and which are now working for the budget and defense forces, were not even written off from the enemy's accounts before, but worked in commercial banks 

Duma did not deny that ARMA's income from asset management actually amounted to only a little more than UAH 2 billion. However, she tried to justify the inflated figures, stating that the seized funds should also be considered a contribution of the agency.

Well, to say that these written-off funds do not go to the budget is unprofessional 

At the same time, Duma shifted the criticism to the political sphere, accusing Radina of wanting to "block the agency's work" through the ARMA reform.

Reminder

Earlier, Anastasia Radina noted that maintaining a constructive dialogue with ARMA is complicated by manipulations. She cited three examples that demonstrate how the agency distorts data about its activities. One of them, Radina, cited the case when the anti-corruption committee asked ARMA how many assets they have and how many of them have been transferred to management? The agency reported that there are 69,000 assets in the register, and 36,000 have been transferred to management, i.e. about 47%. However, a detailed analysis revealed that 20,000 of these 36,000 assets are movable property of Mezhyhirya, including bottles of wine, furniture and documents, which have no independent economic value.

In response, the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, called on the MP to "analyze the information".