ARMA Hasn’t Transferred Morshynska for Management due to 4-Month Appraisal

Despite the fact that the competition to select the manager of Morshynska took place back in March, the winner LLC Carpathian Mineral Waters could not begin the process of managing this seized asset. 

This is evidenced by the ARMA’s response to TI Ukraine’s inquiry. 

Thus, the Agency informed us that after LLC Carpathian Mineral Waters won the competition, an agreement was concluded as of May 3, 2023, with the appraiser PE Habiano; the procedure for appraising these assets and reviewing the report began.  

Therefore, the appraisal of this seized asset of the Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman has been going on for almost 4 months.  

The investigating judge transferred the corporate rights to Morshynska to the ARMA management on November 11, 2022, and the manager for this property was selected on March 10, 2023. 

“This story shows us that the process of determining the asset manager needs to be improved and accelerated,” says TI Ukraine’s legal advisor Pavlo Demchuk. In May 2023, the then interim head of the ARMA Zhoravovych stressedthat under the new rules of the Agency, the period after the court ruling before the transfer of the asset to the manager should be 25 working days. But, as we can see, this was not the case in this situation.”  

See also: ARMA MAY INDEPENDENTLY APPOINT DIRECTOR IN MORSHYNSKA CASE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?

That is why, according to TI Ukraine experts, it is crucial to select managers of seized assets in a transparent and balanced manner and amend the relevant provisions of the Law on the ARMA. 

The Cabinet needs to develop a procedure that will determine:

– requirements for documents to be submitted by persons interested in participating in the competition;

– terms and the procedure for adopting decisions to announce the competition, as well as other related issues;

– the procedure for getting acquainted with information on assets in respect of which a competition for a manager is announced;

– criteria and the methodology for evaluating the proposals of the participants;

– the procedure for publishing decisions on the results of the competition for the manager and contracts concluded with them;

– the openness of meetings of the selection commission.

In addition, even after the transfer of Morshynska assets to the manager, it will still not be able to effectively exercise its powers. After all, according to the law, the manager must coordinate its actions with the owner, in the case of Morshynska — with the sanctioned oligarch Fridman. This needs to be corrected, and relevant legislative initiatives have been registered in the parliament.