Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Manafort inquiries stalled in Ukraine
KIEV, Ukraine — In the United States, Paul Manafort is facing prosecution on charges of money laundering and financial fraud stemming from his decade of work for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.
But in Ukraine, where officials are wary of offending President Donald Trump, four cases that involve Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, have been effectively frozen by Ukraine’s chief prosecutor.
The cases have proved sensitive for a government deeply reliant on U.S. financial and military aid and keenly aware of Trump’s distaste for the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, some lawmakers say.
The decision to halt the investigations by an anti-corruption prosecutor was handed down at a delicate moment for Ukraine, as the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country sophisticated anti-tank missiles called Javelins.
The State Department issued an export license for the missiles Dec. 22, and on March 2 the Pentagon announced final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units. The order to halt investigations into Manafort came in early April.
Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Parliament who is an ally of President Petro Poroshenko, acknowledged that the intention in Kiev was to put investigations into Manafort’s activities “in the long-term box.”
“In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” Ariev said in an interview.
The Ukrainian investigators had been tracing money paid to Manafort and a New York law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, by figures in the political party of Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian-leaning Ukrainian president who was ousted by street protesters and fled the country in 2014. Manafort was a longtime adviser to Yanukovych, working with him to revamp his public image and acquire a pro-Western patina that helped him win the presidency in 2010.
The current government established a special prosecutor to pursue corruption in the former administration. By late last year, the prosecutor, Serhiy Horbatyuk, had opened about 3,000 cases, including four related to Manafort’s consulting for the former president and his political party.
The order issued in April isolated the four investigations. The cases were not closed, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement, but the order blocked Horbatyuk from issuing subpoenas for evidence or interviewing witnesses.