Unpredictable methods: how ARMA turned the inspection of the Gulliver shopping center into a special operation

After failing to sell the yacht of former traitor MP Viktor Medvedchuk, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency has found itself in a new scandal. ARMA employees arrived to inspect the assets of the capital's Gulliver shopping center in a car with cover numbers, despite the fact that they do not have such authority, UNN writes.

According to the press service of Gulliver in response to a request from UNN, ARMA officers arrived in a gray BMW X5 with license plate KA1614RT. However, as it turned out, this license plate was not registered in the MIA databases, which indicates that the ARMA officers were using cover plates.

However, according to the law, the use of cover numbers can only be used for the purpose of conducting operational and investigative activities. This was also emphasized by Viktor Chumak, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada and former acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

"Cover numbers can only be used by law enforcement agencies and their operational units. Period. On official cars, not private ones," Chumak said in an exclusive commentary to UNN.

He added that cover numbers can also be used for officials subject to state protection. 

"As for the responsibility, there is no particularly serious one. This is disciplinary responsibility for those who made it possible to use them, and nothing more," the former acting Prosecutor General said.

So, on what grounds ARMA officers used cars with cover plates remains an open question. However, this incident casts doubt on the legitimacy of ARMA's actions, adding another dark spot to the agency's reputation.

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The ARMA has recently been in the spotlight for losing the Royal Romance yacht, which belonged to former MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a suspect in high treason. Despite the yacht's arrest by a Croatian court and its transfer to Ukraine for sale, ARMA has not been able to sell the asset in two years.

After researching the topic, we found out that the main delay with the sale of the yacht of the traitorous ex-MP arose because the head of ARMA, Olena Duma, had been preparing amendments to the legislation on the sale of foreign assets for almost six months. At the same time, as of the time of her appointment to ARMA, the Prosecutor General's Office, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had already prepared a draft of the changes, but Duma categorically rejected it.

In this regard, the ARMA only launched a tender on March 20, 2024, to select a seller to sell the yacht, and a month later it finally selected the winner. It is worth noting that the selection of the winner took place a month before the expiration of the maximum period of seizure of this asset, which made its sale virtually impossible.

Political analyst Viktor Bobirenko believes that the delay in the sale of Medvedchuk's yacht by ARMA head Olena Duma cannot be ordinary negligence, but could be motivated by financial reward. And former MP Ihor Mosiychuk is sure that Olena Duma acted in the interests of pro-Russian politician Medvedchuk by delaying the sale of his yacht.