Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation into whether former state officials paid Paul Manafort for political consulting work, the country’s prosecutor-general says.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko told journalists in Kyiv on August 21 that Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service had opened criminal proceedings against ex-officials who served during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency and were suspected of paying Mr. Manafort for his work for Mr. Yanukovych and his Party of Regions.
Under Ukrainian law, state officials do not have the right to engage in business, Mr. Lutsenko said.
The prosecutor general did not name any of the suspects, but at least six Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians, including four who held public office during Mr. Yanukovych’s term, are alleged to have paid a total of $65.9 million to Mr. Manafort for consulting work, according to documents released by a U.S. court.
Three other cases related to Mr. Manafort’s professional activities in Ukraine are currently being investigated by the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office. Mr. Manafort himself is not facing any charges in Ukraine.
The announcement of the new probe comes as the jury in Mr. Manafort’s trial at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., entered its fourth day of deliberations.
[Editor’s note: Mr. Manafort was found guilty later that day on eight counts of financial crimes, including tax fraud, bank fraud and hiding foreign bank accounts. The jury could not reach a decision on 10 other counts.]Mr. Manafort, the former campaign chairman of U.S. President Donald Trump, faced 18 counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, with many of the charges centering on allegations that he illegally avoided taxes on some of the millions of dollars he earned from his political consulting work for Mr. Yanukovych and his party between 2010 and 2014.
During his press briefing, Mr. Lutsenko cited the hundreds of documents presented by U.S. prosecutors in the trial and the testimony of one of its star witnesses, Mr. Manafort’s former deputy, Rick Gates, as the reason behind the opening of the new investigation.
“There has been testimony that Manafort received funds for his consulting services for disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions from specific politicians of Ukraine,” Mr. Lutsenko said, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Mr. Gates testified in court that those who transferred millions of dollars to a Manafort account in Cyprus included Mr. Yanukovych’s former chief of staff, Serhiy Lyovochkin; ex-Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov; former National Security Council Secretary Andriy Klyuyev; and lawmaker Serhiy Tihipko.
None of the men could immediately be reached for comment.
“Therefore, we opened a criminal case into possible violations of these state officials at that time,” Mr. Lutsenko said, adding that the State Fiscal Service “will obviously work with those jurisdictions in the territory of which there are mainly offshore companies mentioned during Manafort’s trial.”
Mr. Lutsenko conceded that the investigation will be a slog but said investigators would see it through. “If it is proved” that any civil servant provided funds to Mr. Manafort, he said, “then he will be held liable in accordance with current Ukrainian legislation.”
Copyright 2018, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036; www.rferl.org (see https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-launches-probe-into-suspected-business-dealings-between-ex-officials-manafort/29445960.html).