A Ukrainian member of parliament said Wednesday that Hunter Biden and his partners with Burisma received $16.5 million in illegal funds obtained by a Ukrainian crime family and laundered through another country, according to Interfax.
Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach said at a news conference that Biden and his colleagues took millions of dollars that really belonged to the Ukrainian people.
"The [prosecutor general's office] document once again confirms the data I had previously published on Burisma and international corruption," Derkach said. "According to Zlochevsky's suspicion notice, Biden and partners received their $16.5 million for their services to Burisma. Biden received funds not due to the successful activity of Burisma or for brilliant business decisions or recommendations. This is the money of Ukrainian citizens. The funds were obtained by criminal means. That's what they say in the PGO."
Derkach said the new information came from a suspicion notice to former Ukraine ecology minister and owner of the Burisma Group, Mykola Zlochevsky.
"According to the investigation, Zlochevsky was directly involved in the withdrawal of funds by the Yanukovych 'family'," Derkach said. "They laundered the funds of Yanukovych through three companies in Latvia."
The money was then allegedly paid to Hunter Biden, Aleksander Kwasniewski, Alan Apter, and Devon Archer.
Burisma has been the subject of suspicion and investigation for years for corrupt business dealings. Hunter Biden was named to the board of the company in 2014, and just recently stepped down. His appointment to the board is controversial because it came while his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, was the Obama administration's point man for Ukraine issues.
Joe Biden has boasted about his role in ousting a Ukrainian prosecutor who had been pursuing criminal investigations into Burisma in 2016. Biden used a $1 billion loan guarantee as leverage to pressure the government into firing the prosecutor.
House Democrats are attempting to impeach President Donald Trump in part for allegedly withholding security aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the government to investigate Burisma and the involvement of the Bidens. House Republicans have attempted to subpoena Hunter Biden to testify, but it is unlikely that the Democrats, who control the process, will allow it.
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