ARMA held a meeting with the Commission for the External Independent Evaluation (Audit) of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
The meeting was initiated by the Commission, which is chaired by Robert Westbrooks, a former U.S. criminal investigator and Inspector General, as well as former Executive Director of the U.S. Pandemic Accountability and Response Committee. In addition, the Commission includes Martin Arpo, former Deputy Director General of the Estonian Internal Security Service, and Hermione Cronje, an international expert on anti-corruption and asset recovery.
During the meeting, the Head of ARMA, Olena Duma, presented the key achievements of the National Agency, in particular in terms of cooperation with NABU. Olena Duma presented the Register of Seized Assets, which contains more than 324,000 entries, of which 72,000 were transferred to ARMA's management by court decisions. Many of these assets were seized as a result of cooperation with NABU.
The Head of the ARMA drew attention to the interaction between the Agency and the NABU, in particular, within the framework of the joint Order on the Procedure for Cooperation approved by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the signed Memorandum of Cooperation between the agencies.
Representatives of the National Agency provided figures for cooperation with the NABU in the period from 2018 to 2024, since the signing of the joint Order on Cooperation. Thus, requests from all law enforcement agencies for 2018-2024 amounted to 23,047 requests. Separately 11,046 requests from the Ministry of Justice were processed under the sanctions mechanism and 68 requests regarding political parties. These requests include 418 requests from the NABU.
Separately, the Agency processed and sent 349 requests to foreign jurisdictions for the Task Force on finding, seizing and confiscating assets of persons involved in russian war crimes.
Examples of high-profile cases where successful investigation and seizure of assets were made possible through close cooperation with the NABU were also provided. The agency has identified and traced assets of well-known politicians such as Svynarchuk, Derkach, Sviatash and others.
The working meeting emphasized the importance of further improving the results of such cooperation in order to increase state budget revenues and improve the effectiveness of court rulings. It was noted that in order to strengthen this process, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation with the NABU and amend the special law on ARMA.
“ARMA is a body that forms and implements state policy in the field of tracing and management of seized assets. We are fully open to cooperation with all law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies and are ready to facilitate and strengthen our cooperation to achieve joint results,” said the Head of the National Agency.
The ARMA constantly takes into account suggestions from international partners and civil society representatives. In particular, the agency supports Transparency International's initiative to introduce joint arrest planning between ARMA and NABU, which will significantly improve the quality of documents for prosecutors and judges. “This should be reflected in a special law on ARMA. The National Agency has already initiated a discussion of this issue at the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy,” emphasized Olena Duma.
The Agency's team presented examples of successful cooperation with other pre-trial investigation agencies, including the Security Service of Ukraine. They talked about joint planning of arrests, which helps to avoid situations when property is transferred to management that cannot be effectively managed due to partial arrests or a complex ownership structure.
In addition, Olena Duma spoke about the reform of the Agency, which began in the second half of 2023. As part of this process, ARMA cooperated with the NABU to eradicate corruption schemes that existed in previous years. The National Agency approached the National Bureau with the initiative to second detectives and engage them to perform tasks and duties requiring special knowledge and skills.
