Lawyer: Ineffective distribution of powers in ARMA shows managerial failures of the Duma

The involvement of the Deputy for European Integration in the review of assets in the regions demonstrates the managerial inefficiency of the head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, Olena Duma. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by Oleh Shram, a lawyer and former advisor to the director of the State Bureau of Investigation.

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The day before, Olena Duma reported on another "success" - the ARMA continues to inspect the assets of former traitor MP Viktor Medvedchuk in Lviv. However, it is very strange that the assets in the regions are being inspected personally by the Deputy Head for European Integration Grigol Katamadze. According to the logic of the position, he should be engaged in international cooperation, not traveling to the regions and performing work that usually falls within the competence of local representatives or specialized specialists. ARMA has over 200 employees and regional offices, including the Western Interregional Office, which was also interviewed for this review. However, the agency sent one of its senior managers to perform this task.

Oleh Shram believes that this practice may indicate shortcomings in the management policy of ARMA Head Olena Duma, who failed to ensure a rational distribution of powers.

The distribution of powers between deputies and employees is the responsibility of the Head of ARMA. The fact that a person in such a position - Deputy for European Integration - deals with other issues, travels to the regions and checks the availability of property - in my opinion, indicates the ineffectiveness of resolving the issue of the distribution of powers among ARMA employees

In his opinion, the position of deputy for European integration was originally created for the "right" person, and the job responsibilities were invented later.

"If this is a matter of European integration and cooperation with our European partners, bringing our activities in line with European standards, then he should probably be dealing with these issues, not with the current routine work, checking the availability or compliance of this or that seized property transferred to the management of the ARMA. They have relevant departments that deal with this...  The name implies that this is definitely not his issue," Shram said.

He added that the ineffective distribution of powers may indicate management problems at ARMA. According to him, the agency needs structural changes to achieve greater efficiency in fulfilling its tasks as prescribed by law.

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This is not the first signal of management problems in ARMA. Since Olena Duma's appointment as the head of the agency, there have been occasional discussions about her lack of experience. She even had to justify this and argued her expertise by saying that she graduated from school with a gold medal and has "a lot of experience."

In general, statements about the non-transparent and ineffective work of the ARMA and its head, Olena Duma, have been made repeatedly. A petition calling for the dismissal of Olena Duma from her post due to her alleged ties to pro-Russian politicians and ineffective management of seized assetshas even appeared on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

In addition, there are doubts about the political independence of the ARMA leadership. In particular, it has recently become known about possible backroom deals taking place in the ARMA under the leadership of Olena Duma. According to informed sources of UNN, a close associate of the former deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, lawyer and former MP Valeriy Pysarenko, regularly visits the ARMA headquarters in Kyiv to meet personally with Olena Duma. The purpose of his visits is allegedly to discuss the transfer of large seized assets in favor of certain influential individuals, including Yulia Tymoshenko. Among these assets was, for example, the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv.

Immediately after the publication of this material, the ARMA was quick to disassociate itself from these visits. They stated that there were no visitors with the name Valeriy Pysarenko in the log, and that Olena Duma was "not familiar" with the former MP at all.

However, they forgot to mention that their main office can be entered through four more "back" entrances and climbed through a window using two fire escapes, which have no visitor or security logs.