Ukrainian Prosecutor General willing to hand over Burisma case materials to US authorities
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko would like to meet with the US law enforcement authorities to hand over the case materials concerning the Burisma Group so that they can examine the legality the American citizens’ actions. According to Lutsenko, there has been no breach of Ukrainian legislation by US citizens, reports Dzerkalo Tyzhnia news outlet.
“I am willing and would like to meet with the leaders of the US law enforcement authorities to give them all the necessary materials so that they can examine all the American citizens involved in the Burisma case to ascertain the legality of their actions,” the prosecutor general said.
Lutsenko said that the matter is outside of his competence, but he is open to collaboration. “It would be beneficial to all these citizens to answer the questions and remove the scandal,” he remarked.
The Mirror Weekly reported previously that US President Donald Trump’s close circle is interested in the progress made by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) on the Burisma case. Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, one of Trump’s potential major rivals in the US 2020 presidential elections, has been appointed to Burisma’s board of directors.
Burisma’s owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, was Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources under the Mykola Azarov government between June 2010 and April 2012. At the end of 2014, Zlochevsky left Ukraine, and at the start of 2015 the PGO placed him on the wanted list for suspected illicit enrichment.
In December 2015, the PGO handed the Zlochevsky case over to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, and in August 2017, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office closed the case, citing insufficient evidence.
In September 2016, the Pecherskyi District Court in Kyiv ordered the PGO to remove Zlochevsky from the wanted list. In January 2017, Burisma announced that all the court cases in Ukraine against the group and Zlochevsky had been closed. However, the case against Zlochevsky was reopened in 2018.
During the investigation, Burisma had to pay the Ukrainian tax authorities 180 million hryvnia (around $6.85 million) in previously evaded taxes plus penalties.