On November 15, 2018, the National Agency of Ukraine for Finding, Tracing and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) together with the EU Anticorruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI), held the first forum FORMA on management of seized assets, aimed at uncovering all the possibilities and benefits of public-private partnership in the management of seized assets.

"The Asset Management Forum is extremely important in terms of ARMA's strategic development. One of the key functions of the Agency is the management of seized assets, which is a unique example of a possible mutually beneficial public-private partnership, an instrument that opens up new opportunities for the development of business and, at the same time, for the benefit of the public function of the state, which fully depends on the interest of the business for cooperation", - said the Head of ARMA Anton Yanchuk when giving the opening speech at the Forum.

The Institute of asset management successfully operates in many countries of the world and provides for a number of international instruments. "If the practice of this kind of activity is new for Ukraine, instead, in the EU it has become an activity that has been in place for more than 20 years. Therefore, it was important for us not to invent something new, but to take as a basis the best practices on asset tracing, as well as on management of seized assets", - stressed Anton Yanchuk.

According to him, the successful work of ARMA became possible by virtue of the constant support of international partners, and of the Government of Ukraine - in the prompt adoption of by-laws necessary for the work of the newly established structure and in daily interaction.

During her speech, the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze noted that ARMA was created "from scratch" in full compliance with the EU Directives. This allowed to build in Ukraine a toolkit for the proper management assets on the basis of a European example. "Of course, ARMA is one of the successful stories. The success of the agency is noted by our international partners and experts. ARMA acts as a kind of bridge between state bodies and business, creating a mutually beneficial public-private partnership, which is only gaining momentum in Ukraine", - said the Vice Prime Minister.

Ruben Madsen, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Denmark to Ukraine, and Stefan Schleuning, Head of Cooperation Program at the Delegation of European Union in Ukraine, spoke about the support provided by the European Union to the newly formed anti-corruption bodies and the role ARMA plays in the overall anti-corruption system.

According to Ruben Madsen, Denmark continues to support Ukraine on the path to reform, in particular, in the fight against corruption. He called the important direction an increase in the capacity of already established anti-corruption institutions, in particular of ARMA. Successful work with seized assets largely depends on the results of the work of the judicial system, but the significance of ARMA is no less important here. "After all, there are still structures in Ukraine that allocate funds which must be used for the benefit of the country, to create new jobs and increase the well-being of citizens. It is ARMA that returns these resources", - the Ambassador emphasized.

During his speech, Stefan Schleuning noted that ARMA, though it is a new institution, has already proven its effectiveness, in particular through the exchange of experience and successful cooperation with similar structures in the EU member states.

The Head of the EU Anticorruption Initiative in Ukraine, Eka Tkeshelashvili, talked about the experience of the work of similar institutions in the European Union and cooperation with Ukraine, and drew attention to the trust of business and society in the work of ARMA. According to her, when there will be a complete and clear understanding by the society of the functions and strategy of ARMA's work, the asset management market will grow. To do this, it is necessary to build effective interaction between state bodies and business.

"It is possible to achieve serious results only in the golden triangle of partnership, which has three equal parts: power, business and civil society, and in the case of Ukraine, and with the support of international partners. There are challenges related to legislation, competition, and communications. But we can overcome them if we work together and work well", - stressed Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine, speaking to the Forum participants.

The Forum's work was comprised of seven thematic panels for discussing business-related topics. Representatives of ARMA talked about the procedure for the transfer of seized assets into management of business representatives, peculiarities of management of certain types of assets and opening opportunities to the private sector in this area.
Representatives of companies-managers of seized assets told about successful cases of private-government cooperation. In particular, their experience shared the Communal Enterprise "Center for the organization of traffic", which manages the Congress and Exhibition Center "Parkovy", the Private Enterprise "GARANT ENERGO M", which manages the seized assets of two CHPPs in the Lviv region and LLC "Laksheri Trans", which manages the elite vehicles.

In the course of the Forum, the participants also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the international experience in managing seized assets.

Jean-Michel Verelst, Director of the Central Office for Seizure and Confiscation of the Kingdom of Belgium, and the Head of the Asset Recovery Department for Wilson Auctions Auction Group Aidan Larkin pointed out the importance of involving representatives of the private sector into management of assets and into their disposal. "Private-public partnership can be seen in many countries. Now is the time for Ukraine to start this cooperation. Conducting auctions will be the most effective tool for such activities", - said Aidan Larkin.

Hermione Cronje, Consultant of the World Bank Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), noted Ukraine's first successes in managing seized assets. She emphasized that Ukraine has the opportunity to sell such assets, place them on deposit accounts, and thus to profit from their implementation, while in many other countries such opportunity doesn’t exist.

Bianka Maria Scalet – Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian
Agency for the Management of Seized Asset told the participants of the Forum about the peculiarities of the functioning of the institution and management of seized assets in Italy.

Participants of the Forum noted that such events contribute to the institutional formation of ARMA, and more effective communication with international partners and the business community.