Ukraine Lawmaker Alleges Hunter Biden and Partners Received $16.5 Million 'Obtained by Criminal Means' - Report
A Ukrainian member of Parliament alleged on Wednesday that $16.5 million received by former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his partners through Burisma Holdings was stolen from Ukrainian citizens.
Hunter Biden took at position on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings in April 2014, months after his father had been named the Obama administration’s point man for Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported.
An official with ties to Burisma told The Journal Biden’s compensation was around $50,000 per month.
The position with the company ended in April of this year, the same month Joe Biden announced his presidential candidacy.
Over the course of the five years that Hunter Biden was on the Burisma board, he would have earned $3 million in compensation.
Ukrainian Member of Parliament Andriy Derkach stated that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has reason to believe Burisma’s owner Mykola Zlochevsky obtained the funds paid to Biden and his associates by “criminal means.”
“The PGO document once again confirms the data I had previously published on Burisma and international corruption. According to Zlochevsky’s suspicion notice, Biden and partners received their $16.5 million for their services to Burisma,” Derkach said at a news conference in Kiev, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
“Biden received funds not due to the successful activity of Burisma or for brilliant business decisions or recommendations. This is the money of Ukrainian citizens. The funds were obtained by criminal means. That’s what they say in the PGO,” the member of parliament said.
Derkach went on to detail, based on investigative journalist reports, that Zlochevsky laundered funds from the Yanukovych criminal organization in the Ukraine through three companies in Latvia.
Derkach pointed out that Ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin had repeatedly been in contact with the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine in the context of criminal proceedings regarding Burisma.
Shokin’s activities caught Joe Biden’s attention during his visit to Kiev in December 2015.
When he returned in March 2016, the then-vice president demanded Shokin be fired by the time Biden left the country six hours from then, or Ukraine would not be receiving U.S. aid.
“The instrument issued for pressure was the $1 billion credit guarantee that the United States should have provided to Ukraine: Biden himself acknowledged the pressure in his speech to the U.S. Foreign Relations Council in January 2018,” Derkach said.
The lawmaker also stated from May 2014 to October 2015, Burisma transferred $4.817 million to Hunter Biden’s investment company Rosemont Seneca Partners, which made a payment to him of $871,000.
RealClear Investigations reported that a watchdog group determined Biden received “more than 12 times comparable board pay at similarly sized companies.”
GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York noted that multiple witnesses who have appeared before the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment inquiry have agreed that Hunter Biden’s position on the Burisma board, while his father oversaw Ukraine policy, raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
VERY IMPORTANT FACTS:
✅Both witnesses confirmed that defensive lethal aid was provided to Ukraine by President Trump, not President Obama.
✅Both witnesses confirmed that Hunter Biden serving on the board of Burisma had the appearance of a conflict of interest. pic.twitter.com/EWe4uREXIN
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) November 19, 2019
She said that “every witness who has testified and has been asked” confirmed it had the appearance of a conflict of interest.
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