Joe Biden’s son and his partners received $16.5 million from Burisma — Ukrainian MP

KIEV, November 20. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General has drawn up an indictment against the owner of the Burisma Holdings energy company, ex-Ecology Minister Nikolai Zlochevsky, that contains information that the son of former US Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter, as a Burisma board member along with his partners received $16.5 million for their services, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP from the ruling Servant of the People party Alexander Dubinsky told a press conference on Wednesday, citing the investigation’s materials. According to him, the money came from duplicitous criminal activity.

"Zlochevsky was charged with this new accusation by the Office of the Prosecutor General but the press ignored it," the MP said. "It was issued on November 14."

According to the politician, "the son of Vice-President Joe Biden was receiving payment for his services, with money raised through criminal means and money laundering." He also clarified that "Biden received money that did not come from the company’s successful operation but rather from money stolen from citizens."

Dubinsky stressed that the information on Hunter Biden’s income under his contract with Burisma is a "link that reveals how money is siphoned [from Ukraine]."

The MP explained that this information makes up a part of a large-scale scheme of Zlochevsky’s money laundering that involved politicians from the time of ex-President Viktor Yanukovich who continued this scheme under another (now former) President Pyotr Poroshenko, with the backing of former Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva.

"We will reveal the information about the financial pyramid scheme that was created in Ukraine and developed by everyone beginning with Yanukovich and later by Poroshenko. This system is still working under the guidance of the current managerial board of the National Bank, ensuring that money flows in the interest of people who stole millions of dollars, took it offshore and bought Ukrainian public bonds turning them into the Ukrainian sovereign debt," Dubinksy claimed. He then added that "in both cases of Yanukovich and Poroshenko, Ms. Gontareva and companies she controls were investing the stolen funds."

Another Verkhovna Rada MP, Andrei Derkach, claimed that the US Franklin Templeton Investments management company was also involved in the scheme. "The investigation suggests that the Yanukovichs illegally obtained $7.4 billion and laundered it through an investment fund close to the US Democratic Party as government domestic loan bonds," he pointed out.

Dubisky stressed that through the implementation of this scheme Ukraine has money siphoned from it with high interest rates — "40% of the state budget is spent on the debt service." "This amount — 440 billion hryvnia [around $18.18 billion —  TASS] in the end of 2020 — is the last step towards a default and then Ukraine will go bankrupt either by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021," he concluded.

Biden scandal

Washington was recently rocked by a political scandal surrounding Hunter Biden’s history of working in the Ukrainian company. According to US media outlets, members of the current Trump administration were attempting to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine and, therefore, harm Joe Biden’s chances to be nominated as a potential Democrat contender for the 2020 presidential campaign. US Democrats accused Trump of soliciting assistance from Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, urging him to reopen investigations into the Burisma company, and launched an impeachment inquiry against the White House occupant. These developments prompted the White House to publicize the contents of Trump’s talks with Zelensky. It turned out that the US leader did not put forward direct demands, however, the issue itself was mentioned and discussed.

Earlier, former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko announced that Hunter Biden received around $1 million from Burisma.