Kyiv court opens case against NABU chief, MP Leschenko on Manafort leaks
Kyiv District Administrative Court has opened a case pursuant to a complaint lodged by nonaligned Ukrainian MP Boryslav Rozenblat involving the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) chief Artem Sytnyk and Petro Poroshenko Bloc MP Serhiy Leschenko.
According to the court's website, Rozenblat wants the court to recognize as illegal actions of NABU chief Sytnyk, who made public and disseminated information about U.S. citizen Paul Manafort, the chairman of U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign. Manafort's name and alleged signature appeared in the so-called black books [payment ledger] of the disgraced former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions in a pretrial investigation, leading to "interference in the 2016 U.S. election campaign and damaging Ukraine's interests."
Rozenblat is also asking the court to rule that the actions of MP Leschenko (leaking information about Manafort) interfered in Ukraine's foreign policy.
As earlier reported, on June 27, 2017 head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky said there were no Manafort signatures in the Party of Regions unofficial payment ledger. SAPO and NABU were unable to provide any evidence Manafort received remuneration from the Party of Regions.
In addition, according to an article appearing in the Washington Post on June 28, Manafort reportedly confirmed receiving $17 million from the Party of Regions. Evidence of the payments, according to the article, is contained in documents which Manafort filed with the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Sytnyk said in August 2017 that NABU possesses no information about interference in the U.S. presidential election, emphasizing that the agency had not investigated the matter.
In March 2016 Leschenko said he possessed original documents showing bank transfers by Yanukovych to Manafort via an offshore company with an account in Kyrgyzstan. Leschenko at the time asked U.S. and Ukrainian authorities to investigate the matter.
