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Investigation Finds Suspicious Donations In Tymoshenko's Presidential Campaign
By Oleksandr Chornovalov
KYIV -- The presidential campaign of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has registered numerous suspicious donations, repeating a pattern that journalists uncovered in her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party's accounts in 2016.
According to a new investigation by Skhemy (Schemes), a joint project by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Ukraine's UA:Pershy television channel, many of the individual donations listed in Tymoshenko's financial disclosures reveal suspicious patterns that could indicate fraudulent manipulations.
In addition, several individuals who are listed as Tymoshenko donors told Skhemy that they did not make any such contributions.
Asked to comment on the investigations findings, Tymoshenko denied wrongdoing.
"[The National Agency on Corruption Prevention] can investigate these matters," she said. "We are transparent. Everything is done absolutely publicly. All our income and expenses are absolutely public."
According to Tymoshenko's filings, her campaign received no donations at all between January and May 2018. Since that time, she has pulled in 160 million hryvnyas ($6 million), 145 million ($5.4 million) from private individuals.
According to Skhemy's analysis, numerous individuals contributed identical amounts, often either just less than 15 hryvnyas ($0.56) or just less than 150,000 hyrvnyas ($5,600). One individual contributed identical amounts several times from banks in different cities. Sometimes, entire families made donations on the same day and sometimes a single individual made numerous identical contributions within a short time span.
In the western city of Chernivtsi, Skhemi spoke with Olena Savva. According to Batkivshchyna's reports, Savva contributed three payments of 14,999 hryvnyas ($560). Savva, however, denied making any donation or having any connection with Tymoshenko's party.
"Where would I get so much money from?" she said.
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Retiree Vasyl Lendel from Kostopil was listed in the party's accounts as making several donations totaling nearly 40,000 hryvnas ($1,490). He denied making any contributions.
Skhemy uncovered similar discrepancies in the Kyiv area as well.
The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAZK) refused to comment on the Skhemy findings, only saying it was examining the financial statements of all political parties and that more than 200 suspected administrative violations have been referred to law enforcement.
The Interior Ministry told Skhemy they could not investigate Batkivshchyna's accounts without a complaint from NAZK.
Journalists uncovered similar complaints of individuals who denied making donations to Tymoshenko's party in 2016-17, analyst Ihor Feshchenko of the Chesno anticorruption NGO told Skhemy.
"It has been two years since an analogous scheme of financing Batkivshchyna was reported and there have been no results," he said. He noted that although his NGO was the main complainant, he was only questioned by investigators more than eight months after the probe was opened.
"The National Police are sabotaging the investigation," he charged. He said that when he was questioned, the investigators had not studied Batkivshchyna's filings or any of the media articles alleging the wrongdoing.
"That means the National Police are not really investigating this criminal case and they have tried to close it down several times," Feshchenko told Skhemy.
Forty-four candidates have been approved to run in Ukraine's March 31 presidential election. According to polls, the front-runners are incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, Tymoshenko, and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian parliament has passed a bill that brings the country's customs legislation closer to that of the EU.