1) I(Lutsenko) have known Mr. Giuliani for many years. We met him in the YES Forum in Kiev, then in the US. In late January [2019], I met him in New York. He invited me, I took a vacation, went with my younger son. #Ukraine
2) We spent three days there, mostly showing my son the Big Apple. We had a conversation with Giuliani - he is a former prosecutor, he was interested in how we fight corruption.
3) He asked me how we worked with the US Embassy. I honestly replied that the cooperation was a failure. With all the prior US ambassadors, I had a good relationship.
4) I respect Mrs Ambassador Marie Jovanovich as a representative of our strategic ally, but we do not have a normal interpersonal relationship.
5) He then asked about the affairs of [owner of Burisma Group Holding] Nicholas Zlochevsky and Paul Manafort. I told him what everyone in Ukraine knows. Meaning Zlochevsky's case
6) Even after [Attorney General Viktor] Shokin was transferred to NABU, where the case was successfully closed, and a fragment of money was left at the GPU - re money laundering and non-payment of taxes. Money laundering could not be proven then.
7) But failure to pay taxes was proven, and Zlochevsky paid a record amount of UAH 180 million [to the budget]. The Burisma Group was so scared that it removed its bogus business system and has to pay far more in taxes now.
8) My interest in Rudolf Giuliani is very simple. We have been knocking on the door of the [US Department of Justice] for a long time, asking to help us with a $ 7 billion theft.
9) There is a known case, after which the court conducted a special confiscation of 1.5 billion dollars due to an internal loan scam in a case against the former director of Gas Ukraine 2020. This case was sealed by the military prosecutor's office.
10) But there is another external loan scam case.
The GPU believes that the fraud concerns Ukrainian government bonds bought in 2013 by the American investment fund Franklin Templeton. In order to investigate this matter, we need the assistance of the US Department of Justice.
The GPU believes that the fraud concerns Ukrainian government bonds bought in 2013 by the American investment fund Franklin Templeton. In order to investigate this matter, we need the assistance of the US Department of Justice.
11) Unfortunately, our official correspondence resulted in nothing. I asked Giuliani to talk to [new] Attorney General [Bill Barr]. He promised to help. Then he called and said that they were very interested and even advised a law firm that could serve us.
12) But in order to pay for that, we would need to change Ukrainian legislation.
13) After that, on March 7 [2019, columnist John Solomon The Hill] offered me an interview. I jumped at it. Everything I said in it is true. There is clarification about the list of [untouchable corruptionists] voiced by Ms. Ambassador Marie Jovanovic.
14) The meeting with [#MarieYovanovich ] was at the GPU, at this very table in January 2019. It did not take place just the two of us face to face. She was not alone, and I was not alone. #YovanovichPerjury
15) Ms. Jovanovich was interested in the case of [former Deputy Attorney General] Vitaliy Kaska [whom the Kyiv prosecutor's office suspected of fraud during the privatization of housing].
16) According to [Ambassador Yovanovich], Kaska was a prominent anti-corruption activist, and the criminal case [against him] discredited anti-corruption officials.
17) I laid out the details [of the case] and explained that I could not open and close the proceedings at will.
18) She mentioned a number of so-called anti-corruption cases that are taking place in these cases. She said it was unacceptable, she said, undermining the credibility of anti-corruption activists.
19) I took a notebook out, wrote down the names, and said, "dictate the list of untouchables." She says, "No, you misunderstood me." I say, "No, I understand you correctly;
20) Previously, such lists were written by [the corrupt Presidential Administration] on the Bank, and you propose new lists from the Tank(US Embassy is nicknamed 'The Tank').
21) The meeting ended abruptly. I'm afraid the emotions weren't very good.
22) I have not helped nor supported any US Presidential Candidate. I was simply asked if I could confirm if the General Prosecutor's Office had referred a case to NABU(Anti-Corruption Bureau). I can confirm.
23) Can you confirm if NABU closed the corruption case? I can. Can you confirm that Joe Biden came before this? I can. Can you confirm that Joe Biden's son is on the Burisma Group's board? I can confirm.
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