ARMA should ensure effective asset management rather than simply seizing assets, Head of ILI on Ukrainian Radio
Ukraine's Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) continues to leave the vast majority of seized assets without effective management, despite the fact that asset management is intended to generate additional revenue for the state budget during wartime. Tetiana Khutor, Head of the Institute of Legislative Ideas (ILI), made this statement on Ukrainian Radio while commenting on the findings of the Shadow Report on ARMA's performance.
"Only a critically small proportion of assets is transferred for management. When it comes to complex assets, there are only a handful of such cases, even though ARMA is responsible for managing tens of thousands of different assets," the expert said.
As an example, she referred to the case of the house belonging to former Minister of Internal Affairs Vitalii Zakharchenko, describing it as illustrative of the broader systemic problem.
"The property simply stood idle, with no one managing it. If ARMA fails to establish effective control over an asset, that control may, in practice, remain with its owner, who can continue to benefit from it," Tetiana Khutor explained.
The Head of ILI stressed that ARMA's primary role is not to confiscate property but to preserve assets until criminal proceedings are concluded and, where possible, to increase their value.
"ARMA is not an agency that takes assets away from criminals. Its role is to preserve the asset and ensure that suspects cannot use it while criminal proceedings are ongoing," Tetiana Khutor emphasized.
According to her, the recent reform of ARMA has created the legal framework for change, but many of its provisions have yet to be fully implemented.
"The adoption of legislation alone does not guarantee real change. We can see that many of the mechanisms introduced by the reform have still not been implemented in practice," the Head of ILI noted.
Despite the legislative reform, she believes that the appointment of a new Head of ARMA will be the key factor in achieving meaningful change. The previous selection process concluded without a successful candidate, but a new competition is expected to be launched in the near future.
"I encourage qualified professionals to apply. The selection process is transparent, and a competent new Head of ARMA can improve the agency's operations and restore public trust," Tetiana Khutor concluded.