Head of Ukraine's state asset management body resigns amid agency revamp
Editor's note: The article was expanded with comments by Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.
Olena Duma announced on July 30 that she is submitting her resignation as head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), as the law reforming the body enters into force.
ARMA is Ukraine's national agency tasked with locating, recovering, and managing assets seized in criminal proceedings, namely during corruption cases.
Reforming the agency, namely the selection procedure for its leadership, was a key objective of the anti-corruption efforts backed by Kyiv’s Western partners and a condition listed in the EU's Ukraine Facility funding plan.
"My team and I have worked long and hard toward a real transformation of the agency, beginning in 2023," Duma said in a statement on ARMA's Facebook page.
"An institution that once had an overwhelmingly negative reputation and a poor efficiency has finally started to deliver results."
Duma hailed greater transparency, stronger international partnerships, and billions in revenues to the state budget as the main achievements of her tenure.
The government promptly accepted her resignation, and Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko announced that a competition to select Duma's successor would be held.
The selection committee, she added, will include representatives from both the Ukrainian government and international partners who support Kyiv's anti-graft reforms.
"The main task is to ensure that all seized assets, assets of sanctioned individuals, and property that belonged to Russia are used as effectively as possible to support Ukraine’s defense and resilience," Svyrydenko said on Facebook.
The prime minister also claimed that she herself appealed to Zelensky on July 29 regarding the "full reboot" of the agency.
The legislation reforming ARMA, signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 27, includes stricter integrity and qualification standards for leadership candidates and merit-based hiring through open competitions involving civil society.
It also introduces independent external audits, clear deadlines for appointing asset managers, and the use of certified professionals held legally accountable for mismanagement.
Anti-corruption experts, lawmakers, and Transparency International in Ukraine have backed the reforms, but discussions have dragged on for months since several versions of the bill were introduced in December 2024 and January.
In turn, ARMA has long opposed the legislation, arguing that it had already carried out substantial and "transformative" reforms since 2023.
ARMA's reform has been tied to the disbursement of the next tranche of the EU's Ukraine Facility, a 50-billion euro ($58-billion) multi-year funding plan. Due to delays in three reforms, including that of ARMA, the European Commission proposed reducing the new tranche from 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion) to 3.05 billion euros ($3.5 billion).
The new legislation is expected to unblock 600 million euros ($690 million) in EU funds under the Ukraine Facility.
The move comes amid growing scrutiny over stalled anti-corruption reforms.
Zelensky and his Servant of the People party prompted backlash last week by swiftly approving a law effectively destroying the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
Following mass protests at home and criticism from international partners, Zelensky proposed a new bill restoring the two agencies' independence, with the vote scheduled for July 31.
