Ukraine's ex-president Poroshenko received over US$984,000 from Hungarian government

Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, now leader of the European Solidarity party, received three cash payments from the Hungarian government totalling over UAH 37 million (approx. US$984,000) shortly before his attempted meeting with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Source: data from Poroshenko's declaration published on the website of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP)

Details: On 23 October, Poroshenko declared UAH 517,173 (approx. US$13,800), indicating the type of income as "interest". The source of income was indicated as the Ministry of Finance of Hungary.

On 24 November, Poroshenko declared another UAH 1.036 million (approx. US$27,600) as "interest", the source of the income once again being indicated as the Ministry of Finance of Hungary.

And on the same day, the amount of UAH 36,067,500 (approx. US$959,300) appeared in Petro Poroshenko’s declaration, with the type of income reported as "redemption of bonds" and the source of the income as the Ministry of Finance of Hungary.

Update: The European Solidarity party says that Poroshenko invests in securities in order to raise funds for numerous projects to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"To utilise resources more efficiently, independent professional advisers are involved in the acquisition of state and corporate securities in Ukraine and abroad," the party said in a statement.

The "interest" and "bond" funds referred to in the statement were received from Hungary under this programme and targeted towards strengthening the country's defence capability.

Background: Chronologically, the money entered Poroshenko’s accounts just before his attempted meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

On the morning of 1 December, Poroshenko publicly announced that he "was not allowed out [of Ukraine - ed.]", despite an order from the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) clearly stating that he would be making an international trip from 1 to 8 December. According to Poroshenko, he had top-level international meetings with representatives of the US Congress and the Polish Sejm scheduled in the next few days.

Subsequently, on 2 December, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that they had received information on "preparations for provocations directed against Ukraine in the international arena by the Russian secret services".

Poroshenko's European Solidarity party said the Security Service’s explanation was "false".

However, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó later made a statement in which he said that a meeting had been planned between Orbán and Poroshenko.

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