The Supreme Audit Institution of Ukraine has completed a large-scale comprehensive audit of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). The audit, initiatedby the Head of ARMA, Olena Duma, covered the period from 2022 to the first half of 2024 and was an unprecedented step in ensuring maximum transparency and accountability of the National Agency.

A thorough audit conducted by a team of 10 experts of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine revealed significant systemic shortcomings in the Agency's activities during 2022 and the first half of 2023:

- Losses to the state budget amounting to more than 800 million UAH were identified

- Numerous facts of approval of overstated expenses to managers have been established

- Documented inefficiency of state property management in the period from 2022 to the first half of 2023

- Lack of accounting for seized assets

- Critically low revenues were recorded - only 34.8 million UAH in 2022 and 24.06 million UAH in the first half of 2023

As of the date of completion of the audit, ARMA's overall performance indicators for each type of asset management are as follows

from asset management - 1.29 billion UAH,

from cash management - 1.36 billion UAH,

from the sale of assets - 1.75 billion UAH,

military bonds and deposit accounts - 10.5 billion UAH.

It should be noted that as of the end of the audit, ARMA generated 1.15 billion UAH in management revenues in 2024, which is a 33-fold increase compared to the results of 2022 - 34.8 million UAH.

At the same time, the audit showed dramatic positive changes in ARMA's work since the second half of 2023. The key transformations and achievements since July 2023 include:

- Opening of the Register of Seized Assets

- Record revenue growth in 2024, demonstrating unprecedented dynamics of asset management efficiency

- Implementation of transparent mechanisms for the sale of seized assets through the Prozorro.Prodazhi system

- Launch of an effective system for finding managers through the Prozorro platform

-Strengthening the international status of the agency and asset tracing abroad

-Implementation of interagency international agreements

-Implementation of new mechanisms for the sale of seized assets abroad to fill the budget and restore Ukraine with legislative initiatives to strengthen the existing system of international legal assistance

- Strategic investment in the state's defense capability through the purchase of military bonds totaling UAH 8 billion

-The strategy of the National Agency for the use of seized assets in the interests of the state to strengthen defense capabilities, including the transfer under a shortened procedure, has been fixed

Changing approaches to personnel policy, complete reboot of the state body and voluntary re-certification of civil servants, changing the structure, increasing the workload and, accordingly, positive changes in the trust of society and other law enforcement agencies and state authorities

-Systematic fight against corruption, notification of law enforcement agencies about detected losses to the state amounting to more than UAH 3 billion, effective control and internal audit

-Implementation of unscheduled arrests in order to strengthen the work on the basis ofthe agency's methodological recommendations for law enforcement agencies

“The results of the audit of the Accounting Chamber clearly demonstrate the transformation path that the Agency has gone through over the past year and a half. We openly show both the problems that existed in the ARMA and the results achieved due to systemic changes. The growth of revenues to the state budget by more than 33 times and the purchase of military bonds worth UAH 8 billion are the definition of the effectiveness of the new model of ARMA's work and strengthening the country's defense capability,” said Olena Duma, Head of ARMA.

Based on the results of the audit, the Accounting Chamber noted a significant increase in the institutional capacity of the ARMA and expressed support for the Agency's legislative initiatives, in particular, the expediency of approving draft laws No. 11009 and No. 10069 as urgent and others. According to the conclusions of the supreme state collegial body of financial control, the proposed legislative changes will create the necessary basis for further growth of ARMA's efficiency, especially in the area of unblocking corporate rights management and execution of HACC decisions on the implementation of sanctioned assets.

The results of the audit confirm the success of ARMA's transformation over the past year without additional international technical assistance projects and demonstrate the Agency's strong potential to ensure effective management of seized assets in the interests of the state.