Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach has made public audio materials that may indicate the influence of ex-Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden on the fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. “We will unveil recordings of telephone conversations with voices similar to those of Petro Poroshenko and Joseph Biden, testifying to the facts of international corruption and state treason at the highest state level,” Derkach said during an online conference at Interfax-Ukraine agency on Tuesday.
According to Derkach, he received the recordings from investigative journalists, and Poroshenko personally did the recording of the conversations.
The first topic of the recordings, the deputy noted, concerns the receipt of “$1 billion in exchange for maintaining Burisma schemes and international corruption.” The records, as Derkach notes, date back to 2015-2016, in particular, they refer to the need to dismiss Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin at that time, “who was investigating the Burisma case and tapped into Biden at that time.”
“Biden leaves for Kyiv to put pressure on Petro Oleksiyovych regarding Shokin. There’s a powerful argument … in Biden’s pocket … a $1 billion loan guarantees … such was a price to save Biden from prison,” Derkach said.
The deputy claims that the $1 billion received was used to get military government orders by enterprises related to Poroshenko.
The second topic of the recordings, according to Derkach, concerns the collapse of the parliamentary coalition and the upcoming elections in February 2016. “Poroshenko admits that there is no coalition … instead of fulfilling the requirements of the Constitution and declaring a re-election, Petro Oleksiyovych held to the promises given to Biden personally and blocked the Cabinet’s dismissal,” Derkach explained.
“These conversations clearly show … Biden ruled Ukraine,” the deputy said.
Also, according to him, the audio recordings say about Biden’s influence through the supervisory boards of large state enterprises.
“We handed over all the hours-long records we have at our disposal together with a statement about high treason, as well as of facts of international corruption to the Prosecutor General’s Office … for registering criminal proceedings,” Derkach summed up.
He also added that, in his opinion, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov “blocks the creation of the inquiry commission … which is a violation of the law on regulations.” “Such a commission could effectively investigate the facts of international corruption,” Derkach said.
Former prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk, who was present at the press conference, added that Ruslan Riaboshapka, when he was the prosecutor general, “completely stopped the investigation of economic crimes of the Yanukovych regime and stopped the $6 billion budget confiscation planned for 2019.”
“A report has been prepared on this fact that Riaboshapka had committed the crimes pursuant to Articles 349, 364 and 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine … it is about interference with the activities of a law enforcement officer, abuse of power, exceeding of the limits of authority and disclosure of the secrets of pretrial investigation. I hope that the monitoring over the investigation will be organized by Ukrainian parliamentarians … I consider it necessary to initiate the creation of a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate opposition to the investigation of economic criminal cases of the Yanukovych regime,” Kulyk said.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct agricultural holding (MHP), whose majority shareholder and chairman of the board is Yuriy Kosiuk, has confirmed information about financing the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine by five of its enterprises, but the foundation independently decided on spending these funds, in particular on payment for the services of the U.S. lobbying company BGR in 2017-2018 for the National Reforms Council, led by the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
“MHP companies really provided financial assistance to the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine. Financial assistance was provided to achieve the goal of the organization, namely to promote the development of Ukraine and the growth of well-being of its citizens by providing support in the development and implementation of reforms in Ukraine,” the press service of the holding told Interfax-Ukraine.
The agricultural holding said that MHP and its chairman did not used the funds provided to the Foundation for Support of Reforms to directly finance lobbying in the United States or other specific areas.
“The public organization independently determines the use of funds received from all founders and partners, taking into account the detailed directions of activity,” MHP noted.
According to the Kyiv Post edition, the administration of President Poroshenko through the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine paid for the services of American lobbyists at the expense of contributions made by Kosiuk, who at that time was a freelance adviser to the head of state, and it took $600,000 in 2017-2018. The matter concerns five agricultural firms: PrJSC Zernoproduct MHP, Vinnytsia Poultry Farm LLC, PrJSC Myronivska Poultry Farm, Research and Production Firm Urozhay LLC, and Urozhaina Kraina LLC. In addition to the money from Kosiuk, this public organization received grants of millions of dollars in support of reforms from embassies and Western donors, including American ones, Kyiv Post said.
LOBBYING, MYRONIVSKY HLIBOPRODUCT, POROSHENKO, REFORMS, SUPPORT FOUNDATION
Fifth President of Ukraine and current member of the Ukrainian parliament Petro Poroshenko does not want to cooperate with the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) on the investigations into thirteen criminal proceedings in which he is a witness, SBI Director Roman Truba said. “Petro Poroshenko should understand that it is in his interests to testify so that the investigators can study the circumstances as soon as possible […] Unfortunately, the ex-president does not agree on that. We are offering cooperation, but he offers opposition. We are proposing to him an investigation into all circumstances of the case, he is engaging in politics near the SBI office,” Truba told a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
A testimony is needed first and foremost for Poroshenko himself, Truba said.
The SBI is investigating 13 criminal proceedings in which Poroshenko is a witness and he is being questioned in that status, Truba said.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did not show up at the State Bureau of Investigations on Thursday, where he had been summoned to be questioned as a witness in an inquiry into the organization of the illegal crossing of the Ukrainian border. “Poroshenko did not appear for questioning on Thursday,” State Bureau of Investigations press secretary Anzhelika Ivanova told Interfax-Ukraine.
Poroshenko was summoned to undergo investigative procedures in a criminal inquiry regarding the possible organization of the illegal transfer of individuals across the Ukrainian border using fake documents, she said.
“Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigations will look into reports alleging that the ex-president arranged the illegal transfer [of individuals] across the Ukrainian border using knowingly false documents. In addition, it will look into the possibility that customs and border officials might have entered knowingly false information in official documents to ensure the crossing of the border,” the statement says.
The pretrial inquiry has been opened on counts of official forgery, illegal transfer of individuals across the Ukrainian border, and the use of a knowingly fake passport.
The case concerns Poroshenko’s trip to the Maldivian Islands.
State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Director Roman Truba has said the next questioning of ex-President Petro Poroshenko may be conducted with the assistance of lie-detecting equipment. “We don’t rule out that the next interrogation could take place with the use of lie-detecting equipment. There is nothing awful about this. All our employees take lie-detector tests every year,” Truba said on his Telegram channel.
Truba said Poroshenko was questioned for two hours on Monday about possible tax evasion involving the acquisition of the Pryamiy TV channel.
Unidentified people near SBI tried to hit Poroshenko with eggs when he left the SBI building on Monday.
Rallies were held for and against Poroshenko before and after he was questioned.
Unnamed men who obviously want Poroshenko to face criminal charges threw eggs at him when he was leaving the SBI building, but the eggs mainly hit journalists. Police intervened, but the hooligans escaped. Poroshenko, who was accompanied by his son Mykhailo and daughter Yevhenia, was unhurt. As reported, on July 25, four unknown men attempted to assault Poroshenko after he was questioned in Kyiv. The men escaped.
The former deputy head of the Presidential Administration under ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov, has said Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) has opened a criminal case to probe facts of embezzling funds from state-run Concern Ukroboronprom and siphoning them off into offshore accounts, and suspects in the case “could include dozens of ex-President Poroshenko’s allies.”
“Let me inform you about a new criminal case, which can incriminate dozens of people among Poroshenko’s associates. The SBI yesterday officially registered the case and began its investigation,” Portnov said on Facebook on Thursday.
Portnov said Poroshenko gave direct instructions to ex-National Bank of Ukraine Chairwoman Valeriya Gontareva, and the NBU board on January 19, 2016, revoked NBU decisions on hard currency control involving foreign economic activities, establishing that payments of Ukroboronprom to offshore accounts could be used for making prepayments without NBU hard currency controls and limits.
“This enabled the theft of several billion hryvnias from Ukraine’s army, hiding behind official decisions made by the NBU,” Portnov said.
Interfax-Ukraine has not received confirmation from the SBI regarding Portnov’s statements.
