Government Establishes Commission for ARMA’s International Audit

On January 28, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the composition of the Commission tasked with conducting an independent external evaluation (audit) of the effectiveness of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency.

This is one of the key elements of the Agency’s reform, as since July 2025 amendments have been in force governing how the auditors’ commission is formed, as well as the rules and frequency of the audit.

The Commission includes:

• Jacqueline Van Den Bosch — a Dutch lawyer and specialist in internal investigations in the areas of corporate criminal law, corruption, fraud, sanctions compliance, and confiscation of unlawfully obtained assets;
• Cornel Virgiliu Călinescu — a Romanian expert in criminal law, anti-corruption, and asset recovery;
• Jill Thomas — a British expert in asset recovery and asset management.

A reserve member of the audit commission is Przemysław Musiałkowski, a Polish expert in law and policy in the fields of development cooperation, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, asset recovery, justice reform, and European integration.

Under the law introducing ARMA’s reform, this Commission must adopt its opinion following the independent external evaluation (audit) of the Agency’s effectiveness within 10 months of the law’s entry into force, i.e., by the end of May 2026. This means that, at present, only four months remain for the audit itself.

At the same time, it is worth noting that, during the independent audit of the NABU, the commission spent more than two months solely on developing the criteria and methodology for the assessment, and then almost six months on conducting the audit and formulating its opinion.

The report following ARMA’s independent audit must contain a reasoned conclusion on the effectiveness of the Agency’s work and provide recommendations to address identified shortcomings and improve the institution’s performance.