We call on the selection commission of the ARMA Head to choose a worthy and professional candidate!

Today, on June 28, the selection commission of the Head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency will finally hold a meeting. This will be the first meeting after the end of the interviews with the candidates for the ARMA Head, so we are very much waiting for the name of the winner of the competition to be announced today.  

Let us remind you that the commission spoke with the candidates from May 30 to June 8, but since then, there was no news, and all this time, society and the expert community were waiting for the results of the selection. All this happened against the background of constant accusations of the Agency’s lack of capacity, failure of its leadership to perform its functions, and corrupt management. 

The interviews have shown that among the candidates for the future head, there are those who have demonstrated an appropriate level of integrity and professionalism, and also have a vision for the further development of the ARMA. In the analysis of interviews, we focused on positive qualities of these candidates and pointed out their strengths. 

We also witnessed interviews with those applicants whose appointment may carry significant risks both for the work of the body itself and the entire anti-corruption ecosystem. Our experts emphasized the dubious facts in the biographies of some candidates and their evasive answers to the commission’s questions.  

Among the most blatant things recorded by the public are the close political ties of the applicants and work for representatives of the Yanukovych regime, potential business relations with those whom the NABU suspects of organizing illegal schemes with the ARMA (we are talking about Andrii Dovbenko), as well as the most disturbing — ties with russia. Selecting candidates with such stains in the biography can not only cause significant reputational damage to the members of the commission, but also call into question the independence and effectiveness of the Agency as a whole.  

Since, despite all the appeals of TI Ukraine, the commission has not published the criteria by which it plans to evaluate the candidates, it, unfortunately, has space to make an unjustified decision. But we still hope for a balanced and objective final choice. 

Once again, we emphasize that not only the quality of work on the seized assets management depends on the results of this competition, but also the further role of the ARMA in the anti-corruption ecosystem and the system of law enforcement agencies, in particular, the recovery of assets stolen by Yanukovych and other accomplices of russia.

That is why Transparency International Ukraine calls on the commission members to be as balanced as possible in their choice and select the candidate whose integrity, professionalism, and political neutrality are not a matter of doubt!