Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chief Paul Manafort secretly paid a group of former senior European politicians more than two million euros ($2.5 million) to lobby for Ukraine’s then-leader backed by Russia, according to an indictment filed Friday. They were to “appear to be providing their independent assessments of government of Ukraine actions, when in fact they were paid lobbyists for Ukraine,” according to the indictment. Backed by Moscow, the billionaire Yanukovych was eyed suspiciously at the time in much of Europe for his pro-Russia stance and widespread accusations of deep corruption. After that, Manafort stopped working for him, returned to the United States and, in 2016, joined Trump’s presidential election campaign. The Hapsburg Group was meant to “act informally and without any visible relationship” to the Ukraine government, a memorandum written by Manafort in June 2012 read.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 24, 2018 04:30 UTC