Corruption

ARMA initiates admission of foreigners to manage seized property

The National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) is working on legislative changes that will allow foreign companies to participate in open tenders for the selection of managers of seized property. This was announced by the head of the ARMA, Olena Duma, reports [Kommersant]

Currently, foreign investors, in particular American ones, are interested in managing Ukrainian seized assets, but current legislation requires them to have a representative office in Ukraine, which often makes it impossible for them to participate.

“We are initiating changes to the legislation to enable foreign companies to apply for participation in our transparent tenders for the selection of a seized property manager,”

– said Olena Duma.

The ARMA seeks to attract effective managers to preserve seized assets and increase the state’s income from their activities, the agency says. However, an obstacle to this is the legal provision requiring the permission of the property owner to manage the asset.

This problem can be solved by the adoption of draft law 10069, which is currently in the Verkhovna Rada. The Head of ARMA noted that its approval would make it impossible for Russian oligarchs to file numerous lawsuits in European courts.

As reported, last year ARMA traced assets worth UAH 200 billion. The State Audit Service is currently conducting an audit of ARMA.