Serhiy Leshchenko: Payments received by Manafort from Yanukovych are money laundering

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Ukrainian MP Serhiy Leshchenko presented evidence of illegal financial fraud in Ukraine, which involved a former adviser to Donald Trump, Paul Manafort. This information has once again increased the presence of Manafort in Ukrain’s information field: a week ago Ukrainian media reported the involvement of Paul Manafort in the executions of activists during the events on the Maidan in winter 2014.

Money laundering

Payments received by American lobbyist Paul Manafort from Victor Yanukovych show all indicators of money laundering and fraud. In particular, a tranche of USD 750, 000 received on Manafort’s account at Wachovia Bank in Virginia, came from an offshore company in Belize for allegedly supplying computers. This was stated by MP of Ukraine Serhiy Leshchenko during a briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “Manafort received the money from the account of the offshore company “NEOCOM Systems Limited” registered in Belize and opened in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). He received the money not for political consulting services provided by him to Yanukovych. They concluded a contract of fictitious and fraudulent nature to launder money and falsify payments for allegedly supplying 501 computers,” noted Mr. Leshchenko.

The tranche coincides with the date and the sum that appear in the shadow accounting of the Party of Regions. A handwritten signature of Paul Manafort on the contract corresponds to his signature on the documents in the US Ministry of Justice which he completed during his registration as a lobbyist.

Manafort and Maidan

On March 15, Ukrainian media published information on the possible involvement of Manafort in the killings of Ukrainian activists in the Maidan events. A day earlier, a group of hackers hacked into and released the correspondence between Manafort‘s daughters. In one of the conversations his daughter Andrea expressed suspicion that their father had been involved in the killings and referred to the money their father got from Yanukovych as “blood money”.