On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, a meeting of the Commission for the competitive selection of legal entities that will sell the seized assets was held, in particular, the yacht Royal Romance owned by collaborator Viktor Medvedchuk, located in the port of Trogir, the Republic of Croatia.

For the first time in the history of Ukraine and in ARMA's practice, a competition for the sale of a seized asset located abroad has been launched.

As the Chairman of the Competition Commission Grigol Katamadze noted, this became possible due to the active position taken by the Head of ARMA Olena Duma, who initiated changes to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers. As a result, the Agency now has the ability to sell assets seized abroad.

"Today we are witnessing a truly historic event not only for ARMA, but also for Ukraine. We are putting up for sale an expensive asset - a yacht owned by Viktor Medvedchuk," said Grigol Katamadze.

Stanislav Petrov, a member of the Commission, noted that this is the first but not the last seized asset that will serve and contribute to the benefit of Ukraine.

"It is also important that ARMA has officially received documents from the law enforcement and judicial authorities of Croatia confirming the absence of any other encumbrances, restrictions or civil law agreements that could prevent ARMA from selling the asset," - said Stanislav Petrov.

It should be noted that this competition became possible due to: the ruling of the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv dated 11.04.2022, the decision of the District Court of Split of the Republic of Croatia dated 24.05.2022, the inspection of the asset carried out on 29.02.2024, with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

"Based on the results of the selection, the winner of the competition will organize and conduct a public sale of this valuable asset, and the proceeds will be used to support Ukraine's defense capability," -summed up Grigol Katamadze, Chairman of the Commission.

Starting from today, documents from potential global bidding organizers will be accepted until April 18, 2024. 

Only legal entities, both residents and non-residents, can participate. However, the main condition for participation in the competition is compliance with the requirements approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
№ 558 dated 09.08.2017 (with amendments).

The competition is open to legal entities that comply with a set of requirements. Among the main ones:

❇️ not to be under sanctions and not to have sanctioned persons in the list of owners or ultimate beneficiaries;

❇️ not to have representatives of the aggressor countries (Russia, the Republic of Belarus) among the ultimate beneficiaries of the company's founders;

❇️ have at least three years of experience in organizing the international sale of assets such as yachts at auction; 

❇️ have an impeccable business reputation.

The winner will be announced on April 23, 2024.

Representatives of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine took part in the competitive selection meeting. 

The competition meeting was broadcast online on the ARMA YouTube channel and the Ukrinform YouTube channel.

For reference: on November 14, 2023, at the initiative of ARMA, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine improved the procedure for the sale of seized assets and introduced the possibility of selling them abroad. These amendments regulate the sale of seized property abroad for the first time in the history of Ukraine. The rules initiated by ARMA made it possible to start the sale of the 92-metre yacht Royal Romance, owned by Viktor Medvedchuk's family and located in Croatia.

It should be noted that the ultimate beneficiary of the asset is a non-resident legal entity LANELIA HOLDINGS LTD, which is registered in the Marshall Islands. 

All this time, the yacht is located at the point of deployment, at the berth of the Adria Docks shipyard in Trogir (Republic of Croatia).