Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko gather at the Independent square in downtown, Kiev on Dec. 2, 2004. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko scores a landmark victory with his allies in parliament voting down his rival's Cabinet, while visiting European mediators try to broker a compromise.
Photo: AP
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U.S. Congressman Denounces Yushchenko Financing
December 10, U.S. Republican Congressman Ron Paul has demanded to investigate the information on financial support of Viktor Yushchenko’s campaign paid by U.S. tax payers.
The Congressman said he “wholeheartedly” agreed with President Bush who said that “Any election [in Ukraine], if there is one, ought to be free from any foreign influence." However, he said that in spite of Bush’s words “several U.S. government agencies saw things differently and sent U.S. taxpayer dollars into Ukraine in attempt to influence the outcome.”
“We do not know exactly how many millions – or tens of millions – of dollars the United States government spent on the presidential election in Ukraine. We do know that much of that money was targeted to assist one particular candidate, and that through a series of cut-out non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – both American and Ukrainian – millions of dollars ended up in support of the presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko,” Ron Paul Stated.
According to the information from the congressman, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) granted millions of dollars to the U.S.-based Freedom House for the Poland-America-Ukraine Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI), the money, which was directed to support Viktor Yushchenko. The congressman named many other cases when government funds were sending money to numerous Ukrainian non-governmental organizations, which are blatantly in favor of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. And those, he said, “may only be the tip of the iceberg. There may be many more such organizations involved in this twisted tale.”
The congressman said financing presidential campaigns in the United States was illegal, but that was exactly what the United States was doing in Ukraine. “It is clear that a significant amount of U.S. taxpayer dollars went to support one candidate in Ukraine. Recall how most of us felt when it became known that the Chinese government was trying to funnel campaign funding to a U.S. presidential campaign. This foreign funding of American elections is rightly illegal. Yet, it appears that that is exactly what we are doing abroad. What we do not know, however, is just how much U.S. government money was spent to influence the outcome of the Ukrainian election,” the Congressman said in his statement.
Paul believes the American taxpayers have the right to know how much money was spent in Ukraine and on what bases. With this end in view he called for investigation. “That is what I find so disturbing: there are so many cut-out organizations and sub-grantees that we have no idea how much U.S. government money was really spent on Ukraine, and most importantly how it was spent. Perhaps the several examples of blatant partisan support that we have been able to uncover are but an anomaly. I believe Congress and the American taxpayers have a right to know. I believe we urgently need an investigation by the Government Accounting Office into how much U.S. government money was spent in Ukraine and exactly how it was spent. I would hope very much for the support of Chairman Hyde, Chairman Lugar, Deputy Assistant Secretary Tefft, and my colleagues on the House International Relations Committee in this request,” the Congressman said.
“President Bush is absolutely correct: elections in Ukraine should be free of foreign influence. It is our job here and now to discover just how far we have violated this very important principle, and to cease any funding of political candidates or campaigns henceforth,” Paul concluded.
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