Ukrainian to US prosecutors: Why don't you want our evidence on Democrats?

Ukrainian law enforcement officials believe they have evidence of wrongdoing by American Democrats and their allies in Kiev, ranging from 2016 election interference to obstructing criminal probes. But, they say, they’ve been thwarted in trying to get the Trump Justice Department to act.

Kostiantyn Kulyk, deputy head of the Prosecutor General’s International Legal Cooperation Department, told me he and other senior law enforcement officials tried unsuccessfully since last year to get visas from the U.S. embassy in Kiev to deliver their evidence to Washington.

Ukrainian businessmen “authorized payments for lobbying efforts directed at the U.S. government,” he told me. “In addition, these payments were made from funds that were acquired during the money-laundering operation. We have information that a U.S. company was involved in these payments.” That company is tied to one or more prominent Democrats, Ukrainian officials insist.

In another instance, he said, Ukrainian authorities gathered evidence that money paid to an American Democrat allegedly was hidden by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) during the 2016 election under pressure from U.S. officials. “In the course of this investigation, we found that there was a situation during which influence was exerted on the NABU, so that the name of (the American) would not be mentioned,” he said.

The Ukrainians told me their evidence includes:

-Sworn statements from two Ukrainian officials admitting that their agency tried to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favor of Hillary Clinton. The effort included leaking an alleged ledger showing payments to then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort;

-Contacts between Democratic figures in Washington and Ukrainian officials that involved passing along dirt on Donald Trump;

-Financial records showing a Ukrainian natural gas company routed more than $3 million to American accounts tied to Hunter Biden, younger son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, who managed U.S.-Ukrainian relations for the Obama administration. Biden’s son served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma Holdings;

-Records that Vice President Biden pressured Ukrainian officials in March 2016 to fire the prosecutor who oversaw an investigation of Burisma Holdings and who planned to interview Hunter Biden about the financial transfers;

-Correspondence showing members of the State Department and U.S. embassy in Kiev interfered or applied pressure in criminal cases on Ukrainian soil;

-Disbursements of as much as $7 billion in Ukrainian funds that prosecutors believe may have been misappropriated or taken out of the country, including to the United States.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/437719-ukrainian-to-us-prosecutors-why-dont-you-want-our-evidence-on-democrats

Explainer: Europe's money laundering scandal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The largest ever money laundering scandal in Europe is rippling through the region’s banks.

It began in the Baltics and has engulfed several Nordic lenders, notably Denmark’s Danske and Sweden’s Swedbank, who had large Baltic operations.

The Baltics’ proximity to Russia has traditionally made them vulnerable to illegal financial flows from their neighbour.

U.S. investigators raised concerns about some of the region’s banks early last year, prompting domestic and European watchdogs to investigate.

Other lenders that helped process suspicious payments from the Baltics could also be in the frame. Deutsche Bank, which acted as a correspondent bank to Danske, is under investigation over its links to the money.

Money from Russia and former Soviet Union countries does not only go to the Baltics. Cyprus and Malta are among the EU states that are most welcoming of these flows, data show, with Pilatus Bank in Malta shut down last year following a U.S. probe on its owner and after allegations of suspicious transactions involving Azerbaijan’s ruling elite.

But the problem is not limited to Russian flows. EU-based criminal organisations, such as Italian mafias, launder most of their illegal proceeds in the largest EU states, estimates show.

EU banks payed over $16 billion in fines between 2012 and 2018 because of lax money-laundering checks, rating agency Moody’s said in a report on Tuesday, with U.S. regulators levying more than 75 percent of those fines.

Now the allegations have stepped up, so could the fines.

https://in.reuters.com/article/europe-moneylaundering/explainer-europes-money-laundering-scandal-idINKCN1RG1YT