Ukraine’s sacked attorney general Viktor Shokin has claimed that then-second son Hunter Biden was brought onto the board of directors of Ukrainian gas company Burisma to “provide protection” for CEO and founder Mykola Zlochevsky from criminal investigations.
“I have no doubt that Burisma engaged in illegal activities,” he told Fox News “One Nation” host Brian Kilmeade through a translator in an interview that aired Saturday night.
“It continued to expand, and Zlochevsky, who at that time held the post of minister…began to bring in people who could provide him with protection. Hunter Biden was among them, and as a result, the network of corruption expanded,” he said.
The former top kyiv prosecutor has become a key figure in the investigation into the Biden family’s foreign dealings and bribery allegations. Shokin’s allegations, if deemed credible, could escalate calls for an impeachment inquiry against the president in the House of Representatives, which could occur as early as next month.
Shokin claims that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko forced him out of office in 2016 “at the insistence of then-Vice President Joe Biden” amid an investigation into Burisma Holdings and Zlochevsky, Shokin told Kilmeade.
Viktor Shokin said he has “no doubt” that Burisma was involved in illegal activities.Fox News
Biden was withholding much-needed aid to Ukraine in exchange for bribes to oust Shokin, Shokin believes.
“I don’t want to address unproven facts, but my firm personal conviction is that yes, it was. They were being bribed. And the fact that Joe Biden gave away a billion dollars in US money in exchange for my firing, my firing, isn’t that by itself a case of corruption? she questioned.
Biden publicly claimed credit for ousting Shokin by threatening to withhold $1 billion in US loan guarantees.
Hunter Biden was on Burisma’s payroll for up to $1 million per year as a member of the company’s board of directors beginning in April 2014.
Shokin was fired in 2016 by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after claiming that Biden forced him to resign.NurPhoto via Getty Images
Shokin said he has “no doubt” that the now-dissolved company was involved in illegal activities.
He said the Burisma investigation was “an ordinary case” with nothing particularly noteworthy, but that it demanded “special attention” given the Biden connection.
“He was on a list of cases that deserved special attention because Hunter Biden was involved with Burisma and of course with his father, the vice president. Biden at the time was overseeing Ukraine affairs for the White House,” he said.
Shokin says Biden’s business interests led to “full-scale war” between Ukraine and Russia.AFP via Getty Images
An FBI informant file released last month revealed that Zlochevsky claimed in 2016 that he was “forced” to pay a $10 million bribe to the president and his son in exchange for Shokin’s removal.
Purported internal emails from the 2016 Obama-Biden administration published by Just the News this week showed that officials were surprised that Biden was pushing to oust Shokin as a condition of US aid.
Hunter Biden’s former business partner Devon Archer, who also joined Burisma’s board of directors in 2014, told the House Oversight Committee last month that Burisma added Hunter to its board of directors so that “the people would be intimidated into messing with them… legally.”
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Archer confirmed that Joe Biden met with Burisma board adviser Vadym Pozharskyi in Washington in 2015, and spoke to Hunter over the phone with Pozharskyi and Zlochevsky present at a 2015 meeting in Dubai.
Shokin says he was fired because his office “would have found the facts about the corrupt activities they were engaging in. That included both Hunter Biden and Devon Archer and others.”
Mykola Zlochevsky is the founder and CEO of Burisma.EPA
Joe Biden spoke by phone four times in February and March 2016 with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and once with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk as he pushed to oust Shokin.
Shokin’s office obtained a court order to seize Zlochevsky’s property on February 2, 2016, the Kyiv Post reported at the time. Shokin was fired on March 29.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn