On February 25, 2019, a public report of the Head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency Anton Yanchuk on the results of the agency’s activities in 2018 was held.
A.Yanchuk presented information on the main results of ARMA's activities on the implementation of the state policy in the field of finding, tracing and management of assets, usage of state budget funds, as well as the organizational structure of the Agency.
Presenting information on ARMA’s implementation of its function on finding and tracing assets, A. Yanchuk noted that in 2018 1064 requests from law enforcement agencies of Ukraine concerning the finding and tracing of assets were considered, for comparison - in 2017 there were 69 requests. The largest number of requests was received from the prosecutor’s offices - 493, National Police of Ukraine - 275, National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine - 134, Security Service of Ukraine - 85, State Fiscal Service of Ukraine - 72, Court - 5.
During the processing of requests in 2018, ARMA found and traced assets both in Ukraine and in foreign jurisdictions, with the aim of their seizure and confiscation, in particular: corporate rights/shares in authorised capital of companies worth 21 160 mln UAH, securities worth 557 mln UAH, 7093 immovable property objects, 4457 of land plots, 3758 vehicles, 2522 units of other property (goods), 950 units of agricultural machinery, 848 facts of ownership of the rights to inventions, trademarks, funds - 357.7 mln UAH, 97.8 mln USD, 1.9 mln Euros.
“As a result of processing information on assets found by ARMA upon requests from law enforcement agencies, more than 220 real estate objects worth more than 500 million UAH were seized. This is not a bad result for the start” highlighted the Head of the agency.
In 2018, within the framework of the cross-border exchange of information, ARMA has sent 81 requests on finding and tracing of assets within criminal proceedings at the request of law enforcement authorities. ARMA has received 15 requests from foreign authorities for finding and tracing of assets, in particular from Great Britain, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, British Virgin Islands, Germany, Italy, France, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Denmark and Belgium. This demonstrates the international recognition of ARMA.
“For today, ARMA has joined all existing global cross-border networks on exchange of information on asset finding”, emphasized A. Yanchuk.
Reporting on the performance of the agency’s function of managing seized assets, the Head of ARMA said that at the end of 2018, 646 different objects seized within the framework of criminal proceedings were transferred into the management of the Agency by the decisions of investigating judges, of which: 57% were transferred into the management under the agreement, 42% are at different stages of processing, 1.24% - sold.
Among the largest assets transferred by ARMA into the management of managers on the basis of agreements are CHPPs of Novy Rozdil and Novoyavorivsk in the Lviv region, 4 floors in the Gulliver business center, more than 100 real estate properties in 18 regional centers of Ukraine belonging to the “AIS” group of companies, Odesa Central Department Store and Hotel “Black Sea” in Odesa.
A. Yanchuk said, “In 2018, ARMA completed several cycles of fully-fledged management of each type of seized property, starting with its transfer into management and ending with either selling or returning to the owner”.
In general, due to the activities of managers in 2018 9 020 064.25 UAH were irretrievably transferred into the state budget. The deposit portfolio of ARMA at the end of 2018 was over than 150 million UAH in hryvnia equivalent and was represented in UAH, USD and EUR. These funds were transferred into the management of the Agency or obtained because of the sale of seized property. They accrued interest on over 16 million UAH.
Separately, A.Yanchuk spoke about the international activities of the agency, judicial practice in upholding of ARMA's interests in the courts, work on improvement of legal support in the field of finding, tracing and management of assets, cooperation with the public.
Among the plans for 2019, the Head of ARMA named the opening of six interregional territorial offices, the improvement of the function of representation of the interests of the state in foreign countries (for timely legal blocking of assets acquired by criminal means that are in other jurisdictions), as well as creation and launch of the Unified State Register of Assets seized in criminal proceedings.
The report can be found at the link.
