U.S. television host Larry King, now retired and 82, and members of the nationalist Svoboda Party were allegedly paid by ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions through its off-the-book accounting system, according to copies of the ledgers published by the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper on Aug. 19.
The leak follows revelations that Paul Manafort, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, allegedly received an undeclared $12.7 million from the Party of Regions and helped a Yanukovych-linked non-profit group to secretly route $2.2 million to U.S. lobbyists. Manafort, who resigned amid the scandal on Aug. 19, has denied any wrongdoing.
The payments intended for Manafort, King and Svoboda are part of a $2 billion off-the-book accounting scheme allegedly used by the Party of Regions to bribe officials and politicians from 2007 to 2012. The accounting ledgers were given to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine in May by Viktor Trepak, an ex-deputy chief of the Security Service of Ukraine.
The accounting entries not related to Manafort, King and Svoboda were blurred in the leaked documents, as otherwise the investigation into the scheme could be hampered, Sergii Leshchenko, a co-author of the report and a lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, said at a news briefing.
“This money is based on the corrupt system of Ukrainian politics,” he said. “This is black cash. It was not subject to any taxation and was taken from state companies.”
Well-paid journalism
According to the ledgers, Yevgeniy Geller, a lawmaker who formerly represented the Party of Regions, received a $225,000 prepayment for Larry King on Oct. 11, 2011. Geller, who is now a lawmaker from the Vidrodzhennya (Renaissance) Party, has denied involvement in the off-the-book scheme.
Leshchenko said the money could have been paid for King’s interview with then Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, a Yanukovych loyalist, on Nov. 27, 2011.
During the interview, King lobbed softball questions at Azarov. He also praised the prime minister in comments he gave after the interview.
King called Azarov a “straightforward and honest person” who would have been a successful U.S. politician. He also puzzled the Ukrainian audience by suggesting that Azarov “liked” ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a political enemy of Azarov’s Party of Regions, who was jailed in a fabricated case.
King currently hosts the Larry King Now and Politicking with Larry King talk shows on several channels, including RT America, a Kremlin propaganda outlet.
RT America and the Ora TV studio, which also broadcasts King’s shows, did not reply to requests for comment.
Yanukovych’s nationalists
The ledgers also allegedly show that Vitaly Kalyuzhny, an ex-lawmaker from the Party of Regions, received $200,000 for election commission members representing Svoboda on Nov. 4, 2010. Kalyuzhny was not available for comment.
Leshchenko said Svoboda had been mentioned several times in the ledgers.
Mykhailo Holovko, a lawmaker from Svoboda, dismissed the accusations as “nonsense, libel and lies” on Aug. 19, and said there was no proof of the ledgers’ authenticity.
“I don’t want to comment on this nonsense and the stupid statements of this insane person,” he said in reference to Leshchenko. “We will defend our position in court if necessary.”
Yanukovych’s NGO
According to the off-the-book documents, Ina Kirsch, head of the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, got $36,792 from the Party of Regions on July 11, 2012. Kirsch did not reply to a request for comment.
The European Center for a Modern Ukraine is a non-profit linked to the Yanukovych regime and co-founded by Geller and Kalyuzhny, the alleged distributors of the off-the-book cash.
The Associated Press reported on Aug. 17, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, that Manafort and Rick Gates, another Trump aide, had helped to channel $2.2 million from the European Center for a Modern Ukraine to U.S. lobbying firms Podesta Group and Mercury.
The lobbying firms were paid to advocate the Yanukovych government’s positions, including downplaying the need for a congressional resolution to pressure Yanukovych to release Tymoshenko, according to the AP.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at [email protected].
