Burisma

From Wikispooks
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Group.png Burisma  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Burisma.jpg

Burisma Holdings Limited is a holding company for a group of energy exploration and production companies. It is based in Kyiv, Ukraine, but registered in Limassol, Cyprus. Burisma Holdings has operated in the Ukrainian natural gas market since 2002. It is one of the largest private natural gas producers in Ukraine.[1]

Burisma is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky through his company Brociti Investments Limited. Zlochevsky was minister of natural resources under Viktor Yanukovych, former president of Ukraine.[2]

Agreements

In 2015, Burisma was one of the founders of the International Forum on Energy Security for the Future and partnered the Electric Marathon.[3]

In 2017, Burisma signed a partnership agreement with the Atlantic Council to promote anti-corruption measures.[4][5]

Directors

As of 14 October 2019, the members of the board of directors, in order of seniority, are Alan Apter, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Joseph Cofer Black, Karina Zlochevska, Christina Sofocleous, Riginos Charalampous, and Marina Pericleous.[6] Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former president of Poland, joined the board in January 2014. In 2017, Joseph Cofer Black, former director of the Counterterrorism Center of the Central Intelligence Agency (1999–2002) in the George W. Bush administration and former Ambassador-at-Large for counter-terrorism (2002–2004), was appointed to the board.[7] Karina Zlochevska, daughter of Mykola Zlochevskiy, was also appointed in February 2016.

In April 2014, Devon Archer, a former senior adviser to the John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, and Hunter Biden, an attorney and the son of then-US vice president Joe Biden, joined the board.[8] Archer left the company in 2018 and Hunter Biden left in April 2019, when his term as a director expired.[9]

Investigations

In April 2014, the UK's Serious Fraud Office launched a money laundering investigation against Zlochevsky and accounts of Burisma Holdings and its parent Brociti Investments at the London branch of BNP Paribas containing US$23 million were frozen. That money was transferred as a result of complex transactions by a company controlled by a Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, a subject of the European Union restrictive measures.[10]

When the Prosecutor General of Ukraine failed to provide documents needed for the investigation, a British court in January 2015 dropped the case and ordered to unfreeze the assets. In September 2015, then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt gave a speech in which he called out Ukrainian prosecutors for failing to cooperate with the investigation.[11]

The Kyivpost reported in 2016 that the UK unfroze Zlochevsky's assets when "ex-Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin said he had no evidence of financial fraud in a case started by his predecessor, Vitaly Yarema".[12][13]

Hunter Biden

Full article: Biden–Ukraine corruption scandal

"in addition to the more than $50,000 a month Hunter received while serving on Burisma’s board from April 2014 to April 2019, the then-vice president’s son apparently received lavish gifts from the company’s founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, less than two months before the top Ukraine prosecutor investigating Burisma was infamously fired."[14]


 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:People Need to Reclaim the Internetblog post19 October 2020Craig MurrayThe development of social media gatekeeping of internet traffic is one of the key socio-political issues of our time. We need the original founders of the Internet to get together with figures like Richard Stallman and – vitally – Julian Assange – to find a way we break free from this.
Document:Stench of Corruptionarticle5 August 2014William EngdahlBrief introduction to a story of deep in-your-face corruption involving the US Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky and the shale gas deposits of Eastern Ukraine
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References

Wikipedia.png This page imported content from Wikipedia on 19 October 2020.
Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks.   Original page source here