“They worked not for their own people, but for their own pockets”: Poroshenko was accused of withdrawing at least $ 8 billion from Ukraine

During his presidency, Petro Poroshenko withdrew at least $ 8 billion from Ukraine. This was stated by American billionaire of Ukrainian origin Sam Kislin in an interview with Strana.UA.

“Only Poroshenko during the presidency withdrew from Ukraine at least $ 8 billion. Only according to the facts known to me through the state-owned company Centrenergo, it was withdrawn from $ 700 million to $ 800 million,” Kislin said.

According to him, it is not worth waiting for the development of criminal cases against the ex-head of state, while Yuriy Lutsenko holds the post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

"He is his own person in the" family. " Poroshenko and Lutsenko are corrupt people who worked not for their people, but for their pockets, and stole a lot of money, ”the businessman emphasized.

Kislin also said that several criminal cases were brought against the former president of Ukraine in the United States. One of the industries concerns the possible withdrawal abroad of funds received in the tranche of Kiev from the International Monetary Fund in the amount of $ 1 billion.

“There is reason to believe that all this money was spent for other purposes, they were withdrawn in the form of refinancing to commercial banks, and then they settled in their pockets. All this was done by order of Poroshenko, ”explained the American billionaire and former adviser to New York Mayor Rudolf Giuliani.

Recall that in July, the State Bureau of Investigation (GBR) of Ukraine opened 11 criminal cases against Poroshenko and other senior officials in Ukraine. Later, Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the ex-president is a witness in all cases in which his name appears.

On August 12, a three-hour interrogation of Poroshenko took place, after which the politicians tried to throw eggs at the exit from the building of the State Security Committee, but they landed mainly in the guards and journalists.

Note that the following interrogation procedure of the former head of state can take place using a polygraph.

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“Investigation of thefts from the state budget may take several years”

According to RT, the representative of the Servant of the People party, the current president of Ukraine is not going to defend Petro Poroshenko and does not intend to intervene in court cases against him.

“As far as I understand, all significant investigations are conducted with the participation of a well-known lawyer in Ukraine, Andrey Portnov. Now everything does not look like this so that the former head of state can be brought to real responsibility - this requires US approval. Probably for this reason Sam Kislin wants to involve the FBI in this case, ”he explained.

In turn, a RT source in the Popular Front party said that the Ukrainian elite is watching the conflict around Poroshenko. According to him, at the moment there is no real evidence of guilt of the ex-head of state, and all statements are made so that he is nervous and “did stupid things”.

The level of corruption in Ukraine is very high and this is not a secret for anyone, the representative of the Fatherland party explained. However, he did not rule out the possibility that the former president of Ukraine would leave the country at the slightest threat.

“Investigating facts such as stealing huge amounts of money from the budget can take several years. But on the other hand, there is a lot of evidence against Poroshenko. Entrepreneur Alexander Onishchenko, and now Sam Kislin, is ready to give evidence, ”the source said.

"The authorities of Ukraine must investigate the crimes of the former authorities"

As the director of the Institute for Peace Initiatives and Conflictology Denis Denisov noted, Kislin’s statement confirms that in Ukraine it is necessary to conduct investigations against former government officials. Moreover, according to him, until such time as the politician is in prison, all such accusations against him will be treated as a political move.

“It seems to me that if there is political will on the part of the new Ukrainian leadership, if similar matters are given a go-ahead on the part of overseas partners of Ukraine, then, of course, they should all be framed in very accurate joint charges against the ex-president of Ukraine. Everyone understands that this person built a huge number of different schemes, various dubious criminal relationships through which he was engaged in self-enrichment and solving his own problems, ”the source said.

In turn, the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Policy Management, Ruslan Bortnik, believes that the evidence of the American billionaire can be used both in Ukraine and in the United States as part of anti-corruption proceedings against representatives of the previous Ukrainian government.

“Coincidence or not, but, on the one hand, today the USA shows great interest in the materials of two cases that are related to Ukraine: the case of Paul Manafort and the case of Hunter Biden in Burisma Holdings. On the other hand, signals from the USA are now sounding about readiness to help Ukraine and the new Ukrainian leadership to investigate cases against the old Ukrainian leadership. I’m not saying that some kind of, conditionally speaking, exchange is being prepared - political and legal - in this part, but interests may situally coincide not in favor of Biden Sr. and former President Poroshenko, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.

The presidential election race is gaining momentum in the United States. Former US Vice President Joe Biden (Hunter’s father) is one of the main Democratic candidates. At the same time, the politician actually ordered Poroshenko in 2016 to dismiss the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin, who was conducting an investigation against Burisma Holdings, whose board included Hunter Biden.

In May, the lawyer of the head of the White House, Rudolf Giuliani, was due to arrive in Kiev, but canceled the visit due to the fact that “Vladimir Dzhemp’s many enemies” are surrounded by Vladimir Zelensky. At the same time, the lawyer, in his own words, should have asked the president of Ukraine not to stop a number of high-profile cases, one of which concerns Biden.