Manafort now foreign agent

President Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is registering with the US government as a foreign agent after revelations that he was pocketing off-the-books payments from a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine.

Investigators there found a handwritten ledger with dollar amounts and dates next to Manfort’s name in August, when he was heading Trump’s campaign, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from the party, the European Centre for a Modern Ukraine, and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the country’s former president.

Manafort, who worked for the party as a political consultant, questioned the ledger’s authenticity at the time.

Now, financial records obtained by the AP confirm that at least $1.2 million in payments listed next to Manafort’s name were received by his consulting firm. They include payments in 2007 and 2009, years before Manafort joined Trump’s campaign.

US federal prosecutors have been investigating Manafort’s work in Eastern Europe as part of a larger an- ti-corruption probe, the AP reported.

Manafort is also under scrutiny as part of congressional and FBI investigations into contacts between Trump associates and Russia during the 2016 US presidential campaign.

Manafort did not deny his firm received the money but said “any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided.”

His spokesman, Jason Maloni, added, “Mr. Manafort’s work in Ukraine was totally open and appropriate.” He said Manafort would now register as a foreign agent.