Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka announced on Wednesday that the country was expanding its criminal investigation into Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which is at the center of House Democrats’ attempt to impeach President Donald Trump.
“After he took office in late August, Ryaboshapka launched a wide-ranging audit of criminal cases to see whether they had been conducted properly,” Reuters reported. “Thirteen of them relate to Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky, Ryaboshapka told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday.”
“Ryaboshapka’s predecessors oversaw a series of investigations into Zlochevsky, a multimillionaire former minister of ecology and natural resources,” Reuters continued. “The allegations concern tax violations, money-laundering and licences given to Burisma during the period where Zlochevsky was a minister.”
Kostiantyn Kulyk, a Ukrainian prosecutor that has investigated Burisma, allegedly suspected in a leaked document that Zlochevsky committed a series of offenses, “including using his official position to embezzle 800 million hryvnias ($33 million) of money belonging to the central bank.”
Ryaboshapka said the Ukraine government suspected Zlochevsky was involved in the “theft of government funds on an especially large scale.”
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