The Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach, who initiated a criminal case on Ukraine’s alleged interference in the US 2016 elections, announced his accusations to the first deputy director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) Hizo Uhlava. According to Derkach, Uhlava spent a couple of years providing the US Embassy in Ukraine with information that could influence the elections. Additionally, former Vice President Joe Biden’s family members allegedly received $900,000 from a gas company called Burisma Group for lobbying activity. After the big case on the Party of Regions’ “black accounting” and the release of Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump’s phone call transcript, any new facts might fuel the growing American scandal.
On Wednesday, October 9, Ukraine’s MP Andriy Derkach held a conference at “Interfax-Ukraine”, where he released the documents that are related to the schemes Biden Sr. allegedly utilized for money laundering in Ukraine. According to Derkach, the documents concern NABU representatives “leaking” the scandalous criminal cases to the US Embassy in Ukraine. In particular, the cases against Mykola Zlochevsky, as well as the information on multi-million sums of money the Biden family and even Biden himself received from Burisma. All the documents were parts of twelve criminal proceedings.
According to the MP, the documents prove that the US diplomatic mission has full control over Ukraine’s main anti-corruption body. The information also serves as the evidence of Ukrainian officials interfering in the US 2016 presidential election, as well as Joe and Hunter Biden being involved in corrupt activities with Burisma Group.
"This was the transfer of Burisma Group's funds for lobbying activities, as investigators believe, personally to Joe Biden through a lobbying company. Funds for $900,000 were transferred to the US-based company Rosemont Seneca Partners, which, according to open sources and the New York Times, in particular, is affiliated with Biden. The payment reference was payment for consultative services," the MP said at the press conference.
Moreover, Derkach unveiled the amount of funds transferred to Burisma Group representatives, including Hunter Biden.
"According to the documents, Burisma paid no less than $16.5 million to [former Polish President, who became an independent director at Burisma Holdings in 2014] Aleksander Kwasniewski, [chairman of the Burisma board of independent directors] Alan Apter, [Burisma independent director] Devon Archer and Hunter Biden [who joined the Burisma board of directors in 2014]," the MP shared.
In addition, he stated that Joe Biden utilized both political and economic tools of influence, such as the US financial aid to Ukraine, to close criminal cases against Ukraine’s former Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevsky. Zlochevsky, in turn, is Burisma Group’s owner and CEO.
"Biden's fifth visit to Kyiv on December 7-8, 2015, was devoted to solving the issue of [then Ukrainian Prosecutor General] Viktor Shokin’s resignation over the case against Zlochevsky and Burisma. Loan guarantees worth $1 billion, which the United States was to give Ukraine, served as the point of pressure. In his speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in January 2018, Biden himself admitted exerting pressure to fire Shokin," Derkach noted.
Derkach had earlier released the correspondence between NABU and the US Embassy in Kyiv. Thus, starting from July 14, 2017, the assistant of NABU’s first deputy director Hizo Uhlava, Polya Chyzh, numerously sent NABU’s criminal proceedings list to the embassy’s legal expert in fighting corruption.
The MP also stated that he’s going to publish “NABU-Leaks” materials on his Facebook page. The materials he received from journalists investigating the situation, at the same time, have been already submitted to the State Bureau of Investigations and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Additionally, Derkach announced his plans to create a parliamentary interim investigation commission. He also submitted an appeal to reopen the cases against Ukrainian officials over the interference in the US elections. According to Derkach, the court hearing will take place on October 21.
Another scandal?
The news has swiftly spread across the international media, making the biggest noise in the US and UK.
For instance, Fox News held a show on the matter, while New York Post and Daily Mail published materials with Derkach’s detailed schemes.
The scandal, at the same time, largely benefits the US President. Trump has been pushing the “Ukrainegate” theory for years, thus countering the democratic “Russiagate” accusations. Donald Trump and his allies numerously twitted and posted on Ukraine’s interference in the US presidential election, all the while denying the Russian one.
Who is Andriy Derkach?
While Andriy Derkach is not a new face in Ukrainian politics, he is a figure forgotten by many. He served as an MP of six convocations, twice as the Party of Regions member. In 2019, he’s been elected in the electoral district №159 (majoritarian system), Sumy Oblast.
In 2016, he left the “People's Will” parliamentary group.
Andriy Derkach with a 5th US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst
Derkach’s interesting decision to enter the “Ukrainegate” story is quite surprising. Why did the MP decide to compromise Joe Biden?
Saving Private Trump
It is rather evident that Derkach’s actions benefit the US President and his team. After the transcript of the Trump-Zelensky phone call was released, the US started an impeachment inquiry into Trump. With the Trump investigation blooming, the Ukrainian “confirmation” of Trump’s narrative is advantageous for the current US president.
It is not surprising that, after Derkach came out with his statements, Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudolf Giuliani immediately made an appearence at a series of large FoxNews shows, describing the dubious Burisma-Biden payments in all gory details.
The information, however, proved useful not only to Trump but also to Giuliani. A couple of days ago, two of Rudy’s associates – Ihor Fruman and Lev Parnas – had been arrested in the US. According to media sources, the two aided Giuliani in solving the “Ukrainian issue”.
That’s why Derkach’s accusations allow him to swing the media resonance from Trump’s pressure on Zelensky and the arrest of Parnas and Fruman to something way more beneficial – the good old Burisma and Biden narrative.
Andriy Derkach with Senator Richard Lugar
Helping Democrats
Everything, however, is more complicated than it appears. Republicans are not the only ones interested in what Derkach has to say. With the Burisma scandal, which affects Joe Biden’s poll results daily, democrats risk losing the 2020 race. Biden is often perceived as Trump’s main opponent, yet Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts now leads the democratic polls by 2%. As of late September, most polls concluded that 20% were ready to support Biden, while 22% would vote for Warren. Bernie Sanders followed the two with 11%. It is unlikely that Biden’s support will increase after the new developments of the scandal.
Thus, on the democratic side, Elizabeth Warren benefits from the “Ukrainegate” details the most. She might win the democratic nomination in 2020.
What’s next?
Derkach, in turn, explained his motivation stating the scandal negatively affects Ukraine’s reputation in both the US and the international arena.
He noted that “the only right way for our country and the President is…immediately handing over all the documents to the US Department of Justice…barring trade and contacts on lawyers-lobbyists-assistants level… creating the parliamentary interim investigation commission, which would present its developments to both Ukrainian and international public”.
