Top ARMA officials profited from land in Odesa region: sold it for nothing

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office have completed an investigation into a large-scale corruption scheme that also covers Odesa region. The case has been referred to court.

This was reported by the NABU press service.

The defendants are 11 people, including

• the organizer of the criminal group, who had influence on the Ministry of Justice, ARMA and SE SETAM;
• former heads of SE SETAM and the National Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), as well as an official from the central office of ARMA.

According to the investigation, in 2017-2018, they organized the sale of seized property at reduced prices through a controlled trading platform. In particular, in Odesa region, three land plots intended for the construction of shopping centers were sold 18 times cheaper than the market value.

The scheme was also used in other regions:

• more than 2.5 thousand tons of sand were sold in Kyiv region - 6 times cheaper than the market price,
• more than 4.5 thousand tons of urea were sold five times cheaper,
• grain, cereals and oil were sold four times lower than their real value.

The total amount of damage caused to the state is over UAH 440 million.

The names of the suspects have not been officially disclosed, but the NABU and SAPO reports indicate the years of their tenure. Based on information from open sources, it can be assumed that these are

• Viktor Vyshnev, Director General of SE SETAM in 2016-2020;
• Head of the ARMA in 2016-2019 - Anton Yanchuk.

Journalist Oleh Novikov believes that lawyer Andriy Dovbenko is the organizer of the corruption scheme. According to him, the former head of the ARMA's Asset Management Department, Vitaliy Riznyk, is also among the defendants.

Recently, ARMA put up for sale seized assets in the form of 7,701 sheets of patterned glass. Earlier, the agency auctioned off the Nika Spirit vessel seized in Izmail, Odesa region.

Ірина Глухова