Viktor Yanukovych`s Party of Regions in 2009 through deliberately concluded fictitious contracts on the alleged sale of computers through an offshore company transferred $750,000 to the account of the ousted Ukrainian president`s former adviser Paul Manafort, MP Serhiy Leshchenko told a Kyiv press conference Tuesday, an UNIAN correspondent reports.
”I have during my investigation that [Paul Manafort] used offshore jurisdictions and falsified invoices in order to receive money from the corrupt Ukrainian leader [Viktor Yanukovych],” he said.
Leshchenko recalled that last year the ”black ledger” of the Party of Regions was published, where Manafort was listed.
See also: Secret ledger in Ukraine lists cash for Donald Trump`s campaign chief
”During the investigation, the nature was established of one of the payments made by Viktor Yanukovych to Paul Manafort. This is a payment is dated October 14, 2009. This is a $750,000 transaction,” the deputy said.
According to him, the ”black ledger ” only says: ”Manafort. $750,000,” and the funds were levied by a deputy from the Party of Regions Vitaly Kalyuzhny.
Leshchenko said that he was able to get access to documents showing how exactly this money was transferred from Yanukovych to Manafort.
”The money went to Paul Manafort`s account at Wachovia Bank at Alexandria, VA (USA),” the MP said.
According to Leshchenko, Manafort received these funds from the account of the offshore company titled Neocom Systems Limited, registered in Belize, but the account of the offshore company was opened in Bishkek`s (Kyrgyzstan) Asia Universal Bank, which was declared bankrupt several years ago.
”This payment was made from an offshore company in Belize on account in Kyrgyzstan to Manafort`s account in the U.S., and it was not for political consulting services or other services provided by Manafort to Yanukovych. To make this payment happen, a contract was signed that has all the signs of fictitiousness and fraud with the purpose of money laundering and falsification of financial payments,” said Leshchenko.
He added that under this contract, Manafort allegedly supplied 501 computers for a Belgian offshore company and received $750,000 for this.
In this regard, Leshchenko expressed doubt that Manafort, in addition to providing political services to Yanukovych, could deal with the sale of computers from offshore jurisdictions.
”According to my information, this was one of the schemes used by the Party of Regions for the purpose of money laundering. They had accounts, including in Kyrgyzstan, to which they received money and on which payments were made,” Leshchenko said, noting that those were ”illegal payments, since neither Manafort nor the Party of Regions engaged in any computer trade.”
Thus, according to the deputy, the contracts were concluded only in order to legalize the receipt of funds on Manafort`s U.S. account.
See also: Manafort wanted for questioning in Ukraine corruption case
Leshchenko also showed reporters a document that he said was signed by Manafort. The deputy said that this document was received late January 2016 and, after a detailed review, he saw that the date for the payment of $750,000 to Manafort coincides with the same amount indicated in the ”black ledger” of the Party of Regions.
Memo. According to the investigation by The New York Times, former chief of Trump campaign Paul Manafort could have received $12.7 million recorded in the ”black ledger ” of the Party of Regions, when he consulted Viktor Yanukovych. Before joining Trump campaign, Manafort`s most high-profile client was ex-President of Ukraine Yanukovych. Manafort played the role of his political adviser, and helped the Party of Regions and Yanukovych win several election campaigns in Ukraine.
In December 2016, Manafort claimed that the ”black ledger” had been falsified.
Last year, chief of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine Artem Sytnik stated that the bureau did not probe Manafort activities within the framework if their criminal investigation into the so-called ”black ledger.”
