The Ukrainian party Batkivshchyna led by Yulia Tymoshenko, who runs for president, was financed by fake donors in the second half of 2018, according to the Ukrainian investigative journalism website Bihus.Info.
The party’s 2018 statement shows Hr 23 million in donations from citizens in the first and second quarters, and Hr 130 million in the third and fourth, according to the first part of the investigation published on Feb. 28.
In the second half of 2018, the statement shows a surge in donations, of Hr 148,000-149,000, from residents of small cities and towns, with some transferring such sums three or four times.
The journalists travelled to several regions and asked people, who ostensibly transferred such significant sums, about support for Batkivshchyna.
There were three residents from two villages who donated over Hr 4 million, and one corporate donor (Lopatin’s Grain Traditions, which the journalist says was clearly a fictitious company) who allocated Hr 2 million, the report said.
“Large amounts of cash are being poured into Batkivshchyna, using the data of unsuspecting people,” the journalistic investigation says.
The report contains Tymoshenko’s video commentary to the authors of the investigation regarding the fictitious donors. It could be a provocation on the part of the Security Service of Ukraine, the party leader said. She added: “People are helping us absolutely sincerely. If they don’t want to talk about it in public, it means this could put their lives and freedom at risk.”
