Saakashvili Says US Launched Criminal Charges Against Poroshenko Over Offshore Accounts

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2018) Former Georgian President and ex-Governor of Ukraine's Odessa Region Mikheil Saakashvili claimed on Monday that the United States had launched criminal charges against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in connection with his offshore accounts.

"As soon as he [Poroshenko] stops being president, no country will accept him, or he will be immediately extradited. In the United States, he can be arrested, just like [former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel] Lazarenko, since the FBI has a folder of cases against him," Saakashvili told the Ukrainian Strana.ua online news outlet.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko was convicted in the United States in 2006 for money laundering, extortion and concealment of funds deposited on offshore accounts.

He added that the criminal charges, allegedly launched against Poroshenko, concerned his offshore activities.

In 2016, the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper published materials, which it claimed it had procured from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, that revealed the alleged involvement of a number of international leaders, including Poroshenko, in offshore schemes.

According to these materials � now known as the Panama papers � Poroshenko allegedly created an offshore company in 2014 on the US Virgin Islands in order facilitate the transfer of the management of his business into a "blind trust." Poroshenko said then that he had no hidden accounts and that he welcomed any investigation into the offshore schemes.

In late July 2017, Saakashvili was deprived of his Ukrainian citizenship for providing incorrect information on his citizenship application. Following his illegal crossing of the Polish-Ukrainian border in September, Saakashvili was banned from visiting the Ukraine until 2021.

Saakashvili has led a number of anti-government protests in Kiev, calling for Poroshenko's impeachment.