Ukraine Corruption Concerns Stall IMF Bailout (Quid Pro Quo)

Discussion in 'Russia & Eastern Europe' started by ArchStanton, Oct 31, 2019.

  1. ArchStanton

    ArchStanton Banned

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    Well here's your (cough) QPQ Dems. Seems as though the IMF is engaged in Quid Pro Quo too. :roflol:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-corruption-concerns-stall-imf-bailout-11572535061

    "The International Monetary Fund has put off a bailout for Ukraine because it is worried the country's president won't recoup billions of dollars allegedly looted from banks -- including one once controlled by a close supporter -- according to people familiar with the negotiations.

    The IMF told President Volodymyr Zelensky he must aggressively pursue the missing money to deliver on his vow to clean up a financial system sapped by fraud, money laundering and theft.

    The fund hinted at these concerns when it said it had delayed approval of the new bailout in September. IMF officials found "shortcomings in the legal framework, pervasive corruption, and large parts of the economy dominated by inefficient state-owned enterprises or by oligarchs, " Ron van Rooden, the fund's mission chief for the country, said at the time.

    Ukrainian central bank officials told The Wall Street Journal they are committed to allaying the IMF's worries and recovering the missing bank deposits.

    "The expectation of the IMF and other international partners is that we have to put all our efforts to return this money," said Kateryna Rozhkova, the central bank's first deputy governor, in mid-October.

    The central bank's governor, Yakiv Smoliy, told the Journal he hopes to secure new IMF credit by the end of the year.

    Ukraine secured a $3.9 billion IMF package in December, ahead of Mr. Zelensky's election in the spring, and seeks more funds to help it get through a series of debt repayments coming due in the months ahead.

    Among Kyiv's challenges in winning IMF approval is Ihor Kolomoisky, a tycoon and supporter of Mr. Zelensky who is under investigation in the U.S. Mr. Kolomoisky and another businessman each held 45% stakes in Ukraine's largest financial institution, PrivatBank, until it was nationalized in 2016 by government officials who said it was necessary to avert a financial-system meltdown.

    Ukraine's central bank governor that year said PrivatBank had a $5.6 billion hole in its balance sheet when it was seized.

    The IMF is holding up the next set of loans until it is convinced Mr. Zelensky's government will aggressively try to recoup an estimated $15 billion stolen from more than 100 banks, including PrivatBank, over the past decade.

    The central bank officials said in the interview that most of the $15 billion was secreted out of the country through companies owned or controlled by shareholders, leaving ordinary depositors empty-handed.

    Privatbank, under new management, blamed Mr. Kolomoisky and the other large shareholder, Gennadiy Bogolyubov, for the disappearance of most of the money missing from the bank's accounts. The bank has accused them in a lawsuit filed in Delaware of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through real-estate purchases in the U.S. The two men have rejected the allegations.

    Mr. Kolomoisky said the central bank orchestrated the seizure for political reasons and is fighting in Ukrainian courts to regain control of PrivatBank.

    Since he was elected president, Mr. Zelensky has said he has a cordial relationship with Mr. Kolomoisky and denied that he would do any favors for him. Mr. Zelensky's spokeswoman declined to comment for this article.

    At an investor conference this week in the city of Mariupol, Mr. Zelensky said his government would uphold the nationalization of PrivatBank. "I will only defend Ukraine's interests," he said, according to Ukrainian media reports. "The rumors that I or someone from the presidential office is going to return the bank to its former owners are false."

    Mr. Kolomoisky said in an interview that he had been under investigation by American authorities for months.

    "Let them check, I'm not worried about it," he said.

    William Taylor, the Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, when asked about a possible probe, told reporters in late June, "I can't talk about ongoing investigations."

    Mr. Zelensky, a former comedian whose shows aired on Mr. Kolomoisky's television networks, campaigned on an antigraft platform. His political fame grew largely from his starring role in "Servant of the People," a show in which he played a history teacher catapulted into the presidency after the character's rant against corruption goes viral.

    Mr. Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's richest men, was vocal in his support for Mr. Zelensky during his presidential campaign. Mr. Kolomoisky returned to Ukraine from self-imposed exile in May after Mr. Zelensky won the presidency, and since then has met with the president publicly. Their relationship has been closely watched by the IMF, according to people familiar with the fund's negotiations with Ukraine.

    The U.S. House impeachment inquiry into President Trump's dealings with Ukraine has drawn additional scrutiny to Mr. Zelensky's government, putting greater pressure on Kyiv to address the IMF's concerns, according to people familiar with the fund's negotiations.

    While Mr. Trump has expressed desire for Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and matters related to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the IMF is focused on the country's troubled financial system.

    Efforts by Ukraine's central bank to battle corruption have faced pushback, said Ms. Rozhkova. Former governor Valeria Gontareva, who led the bank when it seized PrivatBank, was hospitalized in London in August after a driver ran over her foot and fled the scene. Police in the U.K. are investigating. Ms. Gontareva's house in Ukraine was raided by men in masks and then burned to the ground in September.

    "It's a war against reformers," Ms. Rozhkova said.

    "We closed around 100 banks, stopped a lot of fraudulent and criminal transactions," she said. "That's why we say we have a huge fan club," she said sarcastically.

    The IMF sees weak rule of law as the critical obstacle to Ukraine's healthy long-term economic growth. The economy has made some progress in recent years, after taking a hit following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the opening of a war with Russia-backed separatists for control of the country's east.

    Since contracting by 10% in 2015, Ukraine's economy is now expanding at a 3% annual rate. Overhauls required under previous IMF financing programs have helped stabilize the country's currency. That, in turn, has reduced inflation to the single digits from a recent peak just under 50% in 2015.

    But Ukraine's per capita gross domestic product is the second lowest of all Central and Eastern European countries.

    Many foreign investors are likely to withhold capital from the country until the IMF signals its confidence with new funding, the central bank officials acknowledged. Ukraine's new request is likely larger than the $3.9 billion package approved last year, according to some of the people familiar with the negotiations.

    The IMF, however, remains skeptical after a history of broken promises. Kyiv hasn't successfully completed any of a series of IMF bailout packages over the past two decades, with systemic corruption at the heart of much of that failure, according to IMF records and officials.

    "While there has been progress in setting up new institutions to fight corruption, tangible results have yet to be achieved," Mr. van Rooden said.
     
  2. ArchStanton

    ArchStanton Banned

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    And Democrat's true colors come out again. The International Monetary Fund is holding up loans to Ukraine until Zelensky commits to recouping billions in stolen money from corrupt oligarchs......that's U.S. taxpayer money being held up in what Democrats call an impeachable Quid Pro Quo......yet not a damn peep about it since it's the IMF, not Trump.
     
  3. Moi621

    Moi621 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    BRAVO :applause:



    Ukraine is NOT a nation / state.
    It is a region of geography.
    The mistake was to expect it could be a nation / state.
    Minimally, it is Western, add on, later Ukraine with Polish/Lithuania influence and the Roman Catholic Church vs the traditional, Eastern Ukraine borders more influenced by the Russian Orthodox Church.
     
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  4. eschaff

    eschaff Active Member

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    Just a clarification, there's nothing wrong with quid pro quo in general. It's part of every day life. The issue is that, as a US President, you can't use quid pro quo to personal gain, like gaining an advantage over a political opponent, or enriching yourself.
     
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  5. ttrryosbornsnobolean

    ttrryosbornsnobolean Banned

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    That has nothing to do with PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.

    There is no debate here.

    Find a real one like the economy, unemployment, illegal immigration, trade, energy independence, smashing ISIS, China , athletes kowtowing to China, the Russia Hoax...

    There are a lot of real debates to choose from.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2019
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  6. ArchStanton

    ArchStanton Banned

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    And he wasn't seeking any personal gain nor did he receive any....even though Ukraine did not know aid was being held up.

    This Ukraine bullshit is just the Dems chasing their tails again grasping for straws.
     
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  7. ttrryosbornsnobolean

    ttrryosbornsnobolean Banned

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    Russia Hoax Lite. The act of desperate people addicted to TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome)

    I hear it will become fatal in 2020.
     
    Last edited: Nov 1, 2019
  8. Tofiks

    Tofiks Banned

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    Everyone can see here, how followers of Russian propaganda are calling whole nations as a mistake. Its for all, to get full understanding what is happening in the heads of these peoples. Nazi like ideas are popular in nowday Russia.
     
  9. Draco

    Draco Well-Known Member

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    Look everyone, a new poster who is trying to spread the Fake News Propoganda of:

    EVERYONE WHO DISAGREE'S WITH ME IS A RUSSIAN ASSET!!!

    These people are coming out of the woodwork and show the true desperation of the Deep State.

    Every time you call someone a Russian agent, you prove your "team" is further and further from the good of America and from the truth. You people are quite dangerous
     
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  10. ModCon

    ModCon Well-Known Member

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    For more on this, have a watch -

     
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  11. jack4freedom

    jack4freedom Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    President Donald Trump and the band of imbeciles he hired to interfere with US foreign policy are a disgrace to this great country. What an idiotic dog and pony show run by crooked morons like Hand Grenade Rudy, his Russian Mob cohorts Igor and Lev and his appointments he called “The 3 Stooges of Ukraine Policy”, Rick Perry, Shekkie Sondland and Curly Volker....Are the two Russian Mob thugs and Guiliani cohorts part of the “Russian Hoax” too? Give us all a break champ. This just keeps getting better and better. I can hardly wat to see the next chapter of this three ring circus....lol
     
  12. scarlet witch

    scarlet witch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I'm not sure what is bigger, the media's coverup of the Epstein scandal or the media's coverup of the Biden Ukraine scandal.
     
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  13. Jacob E Mack

    Jacob E Mack Well-Known Member

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    Ukraine is certainly having more than its fair share of difficulties becoming its own, mature nation-state. The issue with 'Russia,' Russian 'assets,' and 'willing Russian allies' are three distinct ideas or constructs. Not everything Hillary says is right, or at least 'gospel' in terms of so, and so being a Russian asset, (Stein, or Tulsi, et al., and this is a conversation for a different thread) but what the evidence is showing Trump did, is he unfairly leveraged his power as President of The United States to fight political opponents. He threatened to hold significant financial resources to get what he wanted. Not to mention during the 2016 election campaign, he called out to Russia: "Russia if you're listening..." The quid-pro-quo of the IMF is a different matter--they are attempting to get capital that was illegally stolen and to better ensure funds are not 'misplaced' and to better enforce legal and ethical finance practices as far as, by extension, Hunter Biden, who knows what will be found out in time, but to date, there is credible evidence that he or his father illegally or unethically pressured Ukraine. All of domestic politics has quid-pro-quo as does international politics as well, but it is not legal or allowable for a President to have a foreign power investigate a Presidential candidate. There were some pretty damaging reports that Reagan sabotaged Carter's re-election via the Iranian hostage scandal, but there was never enough evidence produced. There is significant evidence against Trump at this point and the investigation is far from over.
     
  14. One Mind

    One Mind Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    When it comes to Ukraine the jackals were sent in with NGO help. And of course once the Cia coup succeeded it was time for the economic hit men to get to work.

    How reality works is explained by the retired hit man in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

    It is amazing, our reality and yet most have no idea! But that book will fix that if you love truth over lies.

    You can also learn about the CIA, the parts msm blacks out, when if the msm had done its job they would have told you the truth of what was done in your name that they believe is non of your business in this govt by and for the people.

    War and regime change is a racket. Done for tthe club that you are not a member of!
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2019
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  15. StarFox

    StarFox Banned

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    Exactly, well put.
    Biden is the only one guilty of a quid pro quo to benefit himself personally, he kept his son out of trouble so his family could continue their looting and corruption. But let's not go there, because Joe is running for President, just like the dems did not want anyone looking in to Hillary's obvious crimes because she was running for President, so lesson learned here, if you are a criminal and the walls start closing in just announce your runnning for Pres.
     
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  16. Jacob E Mack

    Jacob E Mack Well-Known Member

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    I would love to see a number of credible evidence sources for these claims and a more detailed narrative of why you think this is true if you have time. I am very much interested in reading your reasoning.
     
  17. Robert E Allen

    Robert E Allen Banned

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    We also now no that the prosecutor Biden had fired was not fired to fight corruption.
    He was replaced by someone " cut from the same cloth " and isn't any better. At least according to the ambassador to Ukraine.
     
  18. StarFox

    StarFox Banned

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    You are joking right?
     
  19. Jacob E Mack

    Jacob E Mack Well-Known Member

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    Not a joke at all; the only 'evidence' has been put forward by Trump, who is in danger of being impeached, and FOX News which is not classified as a news source. Even, non-liberal media and fact-checking sources have found zero credible evidence of Biden and Hunter guilty of anything illegal or unethical. Only ultra-conservative writers and Trump, and the Guliani team are creating the claims with zero objective or independent evidence. The vido of Biden was of him discussing uprooting corruption. It does not matter if you vote Democrat or Republican, but what does matter is the fact Trump has been caught breaking the law with the pressure he put on a foreign power.


    Foreign Policy which is non-partisan and independently celebrated as an objective news source from both sides of the aisle and a plethora of scholars, and even when opinion is given, are done so in a most informed matter had this to say:

    "Giuliani claims that Joe Biden, who was former President Barack Obama’s point person on the crisis in Ukraine, encouraged the government of Ukraine to fire then-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was investigating allegations of corruption at gas company Burisma Group, where Biden’s son was a board member. Biden allegedly even threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine if Shokin wasn’t removed from his position.

    Hunter Biden’s seat on the Burisma board did create a possible conflict of interest for the then-vice president, but he was not the only voice calling for Shokin’s dismissal. International institutions, multiple agencies of the U.S. government, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all saw Shokin as a major obstacle in Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts, failing to prosecute major cases and blocking attempts at reform. Shokin was eventually voted out of office by an overwhelming majority of votes in the Ukrainian parliament.

    Earlier this year, Yuriy Lutsenko, who was the prosecutor general, told Bloomberg News that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden or his son, and fact-checks by the Washington Post and Politifact both reached the same conclusion. Still, the narrative was seized upon by Trump, Giuliani, and conservative commentators."

    And this in another article:

    "The whistleblower complaint released Thursday details how a familiar Washington, D.C., news site called the Hill helped amplify dubious claims made by a senior Ukrainian official, which preceded similar allegations later made by U.S. President Donald Trump during his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    The Hill interviews helped propel the claims into the conservative media in the United States and into the president’s Twitter feed, although the source cited by the news outlet, then-Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko, has since walked back many of the allegations. The original articles remain on the Hill website without an update or retraction."

    Original dubious article from The Hill here: https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/4...ficial-says-hes-opened-probe-into-us-election


    Now that we have some throat-clearing out of the way, I am remaking my initial request:

    I would love to see a number of credible evidence sources for these claims and a more detailed narrative of why you think this is true if you have time. I am very much interested in reading your reasoning.
     
  20. ronv

    ronv Well-Known Member

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    Did Kristalina Georgieva demand dirt on Mariya Gabriel in exchange?
     
  21. Hoosier8

    Hoosier8 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Translation. Can’t be investigated for corruption if a dem.
     
  22. Jacob E Mack

    Jacob E Mack Well-Known Member

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    No that video of Biden is not what you claim it is.
     
  23. Hoosier8

    Hoosier8 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I know, because it’s OK for a dem to abuse power.
     
  24. Jacob E Mack

    Jacob E Mack Well-Known Member

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    No, not to me, anyway. When Al Franken was shown to be guilty of sexual harassment I wanted him to step down immediately and I was disappointed he tried to remain in office. When Blagojevich was shown to guilty of taking bribes, I wanted him to step down as a criminal and be indicted... Trump is actually considering freeing him too :)
     
  25. Fred C Dobbs

    Fred C Dobbs Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    However there was no quid pro quo with an American political opponent nor, of course, did Trump enrich himself. For personal enrichments you should check out the Biden family..
     
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