“PR for MSEK again: how the head of ARMA Olena Duma turns meetings and calls into false gainsOlena Duma declares her readiness to manage the assets of MSEK, but instead of concrete actions she offers only meetings and changes to legislation. Transparency International criticizes ARMA for populism and non-compliance with European standards.”, — write on: unn.ua
Details
In her post on the Tg channel, Olena Duma once again emphasized that ARMA has already found a significant amount of assets in the MSEK case and is ready to manage them. At the same time, instead of a report on real results, the head of ARMA talks about “meetings”, “initiatives” and the need for legislative changes. But such statements have been made before, without any noticeable changes in the work of the agency.
In particular, Olena Duma talked about the meeting with the head of the VAKS and emphasized the need to change the norms of the transfer of material evidence to the ARMA in the Civil Code. In addition, the head of the agency stated that seized funds should not be “simply kept as physical evidence”. However, here the question arises – isn’t “management of assets seized in criminal proceedings for the purpose of preservation” one of the main activities of the Agency for Search and Asset Management?
“I call on law enforcement agencies, courts and relevant institutions to cooperate in solving this systemic problem. Every hryvnia of corrupt assets should work to restore justice and strengthen our state,” said Olena Duma, emphasizing the importance of her initiative and thereby effectively hinting that her agency does the most to fill the budget, unlike other institutions.
Corruption assets could indeed work for the economy and defense, but this requires not just statements, but a clear strategy and responsible leadership.
Previously, Olena Duma has already emphasized several times her “role” in exposing corruption schemes in MSEK and hinted that it was her efforts in 2020 that gave impetus to exposing corruption schemes in MSEK. Then the head of ARMA not only described his “heroic way” of fighting corruption, but also indirectly attributed to himself the merits for the liquidation of medical commissions.
Let’s add
On the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the creation of ARMA, Transparency International Ukraine stated that this body currently needs significant reform and practically does not meet the European standards by which it was created. Anti-corruption activists indicated that “contradictory communication on the part of ARMA or its officials, combined with populism, violation of the presumption of innocence and lack of understanding of the competence of state bodies” is quite often observed.
The Agency for Search and Asset Management decided not to comment on Transparency International Ukraine’s remarks about “contradictory communication” on the part of officials of the agency, but instead talked about its “achievements” in the development of draft laws.
This is not the only criticism of ARMA due to populism. Previously, experts emphasized that the agency focuses more on politically resonant cases related to oligarchs than on effective preservation and management of transferred assets. It is worth noting that in her public speeches, Olena Duma repeatedly emphasized the transfer of assets of oligarchs Dmitry Firtash, Mykhailo Fridman and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to ARMA among the “achievements” of her work.