How seized assets through ARMA end up with people connected to Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna: results of a journalistic investigation

After more than ten years since its creation, the National Agency for Identification, Search and Management of Assets Obtained from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) remains one of the most sensitive structures in the country. Created in 2015 with the expectation of ensuring a transparent redistribution of assets seized for corruption and other crimes, the agency has once again found itself at the center of a high-profile investigative investigation. An investigation which published “Ukrainian Pravda” indicates signs of potential influence of persons close to the authorities on the processes of management of valuable objects.

The situation is particularly cynical given the fact that it is about the redistribution of seized property during a full-scale war. At a time when society expects justice and replenishment of the budget at the expense of criminal assets, significant objects are transferred to the management of companies with close ties to the ex-husband of the Minister of Justice, her advisers and people who work at key points of the agency. As in many other cases, the scandal gained resonance only because of the journalistic investigation, not because of the actions of the state.

ARMA was created in 2015, a year when Ukraine faced two challenges at the same time: the urgent need to fight internal corruption and the external armed aggression of Russia. Both factors led to the mass seizure of objects with significant economic value. We are talking about dozens, and sometimes even hundreds of arrested enterprises, factories, office centers, hotels, luxury apartments and even yachts.

However, such a concentration of resources and powers within one structure involves a high level of risks, primarily political and corruption. The entire process of transferring property to third-party management is, in fact, a redistribution of resources. And therefore it is an area of ​​increased interest for influential people. And if this transfer does not take place for the benefit of the state, but according to backroom schemes, there is a risk that the property simply changes its wrapper, remaining in the shadow possession of the same persons or persons close to them.

That is why civil society has been demanding fundamental reform from ARMA for the first time – and, first of all, transparency. With an objective approach and proper control through ARMA, the budget can be filled with billions of hryvnias. At the expense of precisely those assets that were seized from corrupt officials or related to the aggressor country. And this is not only a question of effective management of state resources, but also a symbolic embodiment of justice, which is so often mentioned by Ukrainian politicians in their speeches.

However, reality continues to differ from expectations. The activities of ARMA were in the center of attention of journalists of “Ukrainian Pravda”, in March the agency determined the winner of the competition for the management of one of the most famous facilities in the center of the capital – the Trade Union Building on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. On its official website, ARMA calls it as such – “iconic for the capital”.

The journalistic investigation made it possible to establish that the company to which the House of Trade Unions was handed over may be directly or indirectly connected with persons close to the family of Olga Stefanishyna, the Deputy Prime Minister and currently the Minister of Justice of Ukraine. It is worth emphasizing that this is not the first case: the same structure, “KAMParity”, has previously managed three more large-scale facilities. And it’s not just a coincidence — the set of facts raises reasonable suspicions about the selectivity of the agency’s decisions.

In March 2025, ARMA appointed the manager of the House of Trade Unions in the center of Kyiv, a facility that the agency’s official website calls “significant for the capital.” The company-consortium “KAMParityt” became the manager. As the publication notes, this is already the fourth object that was transferred to the management of this particular structure:

1. Seized property of the company “Ukrainian Berry” (one of the largest producers of berries in Ukraine, connected to the Russians);
2. Commercial real estate on Pavlivska Street in Kyiv;
3. Trade Union Building on Maidan Nezalezhnosti;
4. “Flagman” shopping center in Ivano-Frankivsk.

As the author of the investigation emphasized, in two years under the leadership of Elena Duma, ARMA successfully held only 11 contests for managers, and “KAMParity” won 4 of them – that is, more than a third.

The “KAMParity” consortium was founded in May 2024, Taras Golub became its first director. In the declaration for 2019, it is stated that he was an adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olga Stefanishyna. Golub’s signature is on the annex to the contract for the first winning tender — dated May 31, 2024. Holub remained the director until October 2024, after which he announced on Facebook that he was moving to the Office of the President.

Holub is a co-founder of the European Ukrainian Council for Cooperation and Development (EUCCD). The activities of this structure regularly appear in Golub’s Facebook posts. In the publication of February 26, 2024, Mykhailo Stefanyshyn, Stefanyshyn’s ex-husband, who is also a signatory on behalf of the EUCCD, is pictured.

As noted in the investigation, sources in political, business and law enforcement circles report that Mykhailo Stefanyshyn “found the keys to ARMA” in 2024. In informal conversations, he is called the shadow curator of the agency. At the same time, the companies with which he is connected receive valuable assets at their disposal. In 2022, he was present at the meeting of Olga Stefanishyna with the rector of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius, despite the fact that the couple has been officially divorced since 2017. This confirms the preservation of good personal relations, as evidenced by the joint upbringing of two children, specified in the Minister’s declaration for 2024.

Photo: pravda.com.ua

According to information from the declarations, in 2017, Mykhailo Stefanyshyn worked as a senior operational officer of the Cyber ​​Police Department, and his immediate supervisor at that time was Vitaliy Chubaevskyi, who currently works as the director of the asset tracing department in the ARMA structure. This means that the person who is now engaged in tracing the property once managed the ex-husband of the Minister of Justice.

At the same time, another person appears on the stage – Andriy Mykhaylovskyi. On May 13, 2025, he participated in the reception of the House of Trade Unions as a representative of the new manager. Previously, he filmed a video on the territory of the Ukrainian Berry LLC facility. A few days ago, he was spotted together with Mykhailo Stefanyshyn by the “Ukrainian Pravda” crew.

In April of the same year, a new consortium “Priority” was created, and in May 2025, Mykhaylovsky became the director of this structure again. And this new structure has already started participating in ARMA tenders.

When asked by journalists, the minister replied that after the divorce, all contact with Mykhailo Stefanishyny is limited exclusively to raising two joint children. She noted that there was no favor, favor or contact in ARMA’s affairs, either from him, from related parties, or through her office.

Regarding Taras Golub, she informed that he worked as an adviser until March 12, 2024 and dealt exclusively with the Ukrainian-Chinese commission. According to her, there was no impact on ARMA’s activities because of him. She emphasized:

“The Ministry of Justice interacts with ARMA in the usual manner on a level with other state bodies.”

The agency’s response after the publication of the investigation stated that ARMA is not an authorized body to carry out examinations of the authenticity of seals, signatures, etc. The agency also denied that it had any information that would call into question the authenticity of the submitted documents at the time of the tenders. As for the verification of documents, the authorized persons who were involved in this, namely Rostyslav Yatsuh and Vasyl Bilyk, have now been dismissed.

ARMA stated that no connection between “KAMParity” and Mykhailo Stefanishyn or Taras Golub has been established. It is noted that Stefanyshyn is not the manager, owner or beneficiary of any of the companies that participated in the tenders. In addition, according to the results of internal inspections, the agency did not find any facts of inefficient management or violations that would be grounds for terminating contracts.

At the request of journalists, independent experts analyzed the documents submitted by “KAMParity” for all four tenders. According to experts, violations were committed in each of them. In particular, probably forged documents in the case of management of the House of Trade Unions.

As the investigation emphasizes, the answer to the main question — whether Mykhailo Stefanyshyn used his influence to get state assets under management by the “KAMParity” consortium — should be given by law enforcement agencies. The journalists did their job.

It should be noted that in most cases, Ukrainian officials begin to be held accountable only when corruption schemes, schemes and abuses gain publicity thanks to journalistic investigations. It is media attention, not internal control mechanisms or political will, that forces law enforcement agencies to move, and not always to the end. In such a reality, independent journalism does not just play the role of an observer, but actually replaces institutions that should protect public interests. Without media pressure, most schemes remain in the shadows and the key figures remain untouched.