Ukrainian who meddled against Trump in 2016 is now under Russia-corruption cloud
BY JOHN SOLOMON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR 05/16/19 08:00 PM EDT
FTA:
What happens when the face of a countrys anti-corruption movement suddenly is investigated for the sort of bribery he once condemned?
Ukraine, a U.S. ally and neighboring foe of Russia, is soon to find out. And its a case with implications in the United States, where the fallout from the unproven Trump-Russia collusion scandal has engulfed several Ukrainians.
The countrys chief corruption prosecutor on Thursday opened an investigation into suspicions that Serhiy Leshchenko, a crusading anti-corruption member of Ukraines parliament and former investigative journalist, accepted bribes in 2016 from a Russian source that enabled him to buy a luxury condo far above his means.
Leshchenko previously has denied any wrongdoing. The 2016 purchase of his condo was investigated once before and he was cleared of criminality. Now, however, the allegation of foreign bribe money adds an element.
A Ukrainian court last December ruled that Leshchenko and the head of the countrys National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) an investigative agency modeled on Americas FBI both illegally meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by leaking financial documents that smeared then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
The documents, known as the black ledger, identified payments Manafort secretly received from a Russian-backed political party in Ukraine years earlier and led to Manaforts abrupt resignation from the Trump campaign. He eventually pleaded guilty to lobbying and tax violations and is in prison.
I’m sorry - you already posted that. I saw “Tom Fitton” in your post & thought it was just a tweet, not a link to Solomon’s article. Sorry about that.