The Scientific and Expert Council – an advisory body bringing together leading academics, legal professionals, economists and practitioners – has started its work at ARMA.

The establishment of the Council is part of ARMA’s reform and a step towards strengthening the quality of decision-making in the field of asset tracing, management and sale. In the context of increasingly sophisticated criminal schemes, international financial flows, and the development of digital assets, the Agency needs modern scientific and practical approaches.

The Council will work on improving methods for tracing and identifying assets, approaches to asset management, the development of analytical and digital tools, as well as bringing ARMA’s practices closer to EU law and international standards.

Doctor of Law, Professor Nataliia Mazaraki, was unanimously elected Chair of the Council, while Doctor of Law, Professor Oksana Kaplina was elected Secretary.

The Council includes experts in the fields of law, economics, finance, cybersecurity, IT, technology transfer and political science, as well as judges and lawyers.

Key tasks include preparing scientific opinions and recommendations, analysing law enforcement practices and ARMA acts, and developing proposals for improving legislation and implementing international standards.

The Council’s work is coordinated by Acting Head of ARMA Yaroslava Maksymenko. Combining scientific expertise, practical experience and public administration is intended to strengthen the Agency’s institutional capacity and ensure higher-quality decisions regarding seized assets.

The ultimate goal is to preserve the economic value of assets, deprive criminals of the economic basis for their activities and increase the benefit to the state.