Yaroslava Maksimenko, who was recently director of the property policy and sanctions department at the Ministry of Economy, and before that, she headed the then state-owned United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC) for a certain period of time, and served as acting chair of the National Agency for Asset Tracing and Management (ARMA).
“Yaroslava is a specialist with many years of experience in law, state asset management, sanctions policy, and international cooperation. She headed the property and sanctions policy department in our ministry and worked continuously with assets that later ended up in ARMA, so she knows the system inside out,” wrote Economy Minister Alexei Sobolev on Facebook, introducing Maksimenko to the ARMA team.
According to him, the recently updated version of the law on ARMA, which has already come into force, has strengthened the agency’s institutional capacity.
“The new version of the law will strengthen the tools for managing seized assets, transfer strategic assets to state-owned companies, and allocate certain assets for defense and military rehabilitation. It will also ensure greater control through Prozorro and expand public reporting tools,” Sobolev explained.
He also recalled that the reform of ARMA is part of Ukraine’s commitments to its European partners under the Ukraine Facility.
“The top priorities for ARMA now will be to conduct an independent audit and a new competitive selection procedure for the head of the agency, which we will monitor closely,” the minister added.
According to Interfax-Ukraine and the declarations of the new head of ARMA, among other things, she was a member of the supervisory board of the Odessa Port Plant (OPZ) and the Nikolaev Thermal Power Plant, and until July 2021, she was the founder and head of the law firm Stalex and Partners, and now owns the LLC “Legal Company AS.”
Before Maksimenko, the position of ARMA deputy chair for European integration was held by former Georgian ambassador to Ukraine Grigol Katamadze. At the end of July, the government also dismissed the agency’s head, Elena Duma.
At the request of the prosecutors of the Podolsk district prosecutor’s office in Kyiv, asphalt concrete plants belonging to Belarusian companies were arrested and transferred to the management of ARMA, the Kyiv city prosecutor’s office reports.
A message posted on the prosecutor’s telegram channel on Monday indicated that the value of the transferred assets was about UAH 120 million.
“The investigation established that a number of companies specializing in various types of road works operate in Kyiv, as well as in the Zhytomyr and Nikolaev regions. The Republic of Belarus is the ultimate beneficial owner of these companies,” the prosecutor’s office of the capital informs.
The report notes that as part of the investigation, the activities of these companies are being studied with a view to misappropriating state budget funds allocated for the construction, reconstruction and repair of roads, followed by legalization of funds and withdrawal abroad. Also, as indicated in the message of the prosecutor’s office, possible financing of actions with the aim of seizing state power, changing the boundaries of the territory or the state border of Ukraine is being checked.
“During the investigation, three asphalt concrete plants, which are located in Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Mykolaiv regions and belong to the mentioned companies, were arrested and transferred to the management of the National Agency of Ukraine for the identification, search and management of assets obtained from corruption and other crimes,” the source informs. prosecutor’s office.
Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out based on the materials of the Central Office of the SBU.
asphalt concrete plants, Belarusian companies, Kyiv prosecutor's, АРМА
