The new competition for the post of head of ARMA was announced unlawfully, says Viktor Dubovyk
The selection committee for the appointment of the head of the National Agency of Ukraine for the Identification, Tracing and Management of Assets unanimously decided at its meeting to hold a new selection process.
The commission’s chair, Kateryna Ryzhenko, explained that during the previous selection stage, which concluded on 16 April, the sole candidate, Viktor Dubovyk, had not received the necessary number of votes to have his candidacy submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for consideration.
Following this, Viktor Dubovyk publicly addressed the selection committee. He cited a provision of the law on ARMA, according to which a repeat competition is held if all candidates are rejected due to failure to meet the requirements for the post or failure to pass a special vetting process.
According to Dubovyk, the commission had previously informed him, in response to his enquiry, that no separate vote had been held on the rejection of his candidacy due to a conflict in the legislation. In this regard, he raised the question of the legal grounds for holding a repeat competition and the appropriateness of conducting a new selection process without a separate decision to reject a candidate.
In accordance with paragraph 9 of Part 10 of Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On ARMA’, the Selection Commission shall hold a repeat competition in the event of the rejection of all candidates due to their failure to meet the requirements for the Head of the National Agency, as provided for by this Law, or due to failure to pass the special vetting procedure provided for by the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Prevention of Corruption’, Viktor Dubovyk stated on Facebook.
In response to my question as to whether a vote had been held to reject my candidacy, it was stated that no such vote had taken place due to a conflict in the law.PLEASE NOTE: two questions:1. How and on what legal basis did you lawfully schedule a repeat competition without rejecting my candidacy through a separate voting procedure?
2. Why is an unlawful basis for repeating the competition being laid down in advance as part of its foundation?
It should be noted that during the competition for the position of ARMA head, Viktor Dubovyk was the only candidate to pass the cognitive ability test. He subsequently passed the remaining stages of the selection process. However, he did not receive the support of the international experts: Kateryna Ryzhenko, Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine, and Rita Simoes, an expert on asset recovery at the Basel Institute on Governance, spoke out against his candidacy. The candidate himself stated at the time that he would defend his rights and sent additional materials and queries regarding specific procedural aspects of the competition to the commission. The competition for the post of ARMA head was blocked due to legislative conflicts.
