Transparency International Ukraine urges the parties participating in the process of transfer for the management of the office spaces in the Gulliver entertainment center to comply with the legal requirements and not to interfere with ARMA fulfilling its legally assigned functions. 

By the court decision of September 28, 2017, the seized assets, which, according to the Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine, belonged to ex-Minister of Revenue and Duties of Ukraine Oleksandr Klymenko, were transferred to the National Agency for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA).

Among Klymenko’s transferred assets, there are three floors in the Gulliver entertainment center in Kyiv. According to the State Register of Rights to Real Estate, the 31st, 32nd and 33rd floors are owned by a limited liability company “Unison Group”. At the time of the seizure, these premises were rented out. Among the lessees there was also the editorial office of the newspaper “Vesti”.

Since the court decision, the National Agency made several attempts to actually enter the office premises in Gulliver and ensure compliance with the requirements of the law. But only in the morning of February 8, 2018 did representatives of the ARMA, the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police manage to overcome the obstacles and physical resistance of the users of these premises as well as of the unknown people who supported them.

Transparency International Ukraine emphasizes that, according to the law of Ukraine, the direct function of the National Agency is to manage assets that are seized in criminal proceedings, based on a decision of investigating judge or court. Blocking the access to the seized assets and hindering the managing company in carrying out of the functions related to assets management are illegal criminal acts.

We urge all the parties of the process to comply with the law and not to hinder others in carrying out their duties.

 

Transparency International supports the ARMA as a part of the project “Enhancing the role of civil society in public finance oversight, funded by the European Union”.  The objective of this project is to empower civil society and journalists with effective anti-corruption, asset recovery and anti-money laundering tools to perform the public finance oversight and support the launch of Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), as well as to reduce the risk of money laundering by public officials, providing Ukrainian citizens and foreign partners with full and up-to-date list of Ukrainian Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). For more information, follow the link: https://goo.gl/SncnHJ