KYIV. Dec 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and the United States should investigate the transfer of $29 million by businessman Victor Pinchuk from Ukraine to the Clinton Foundation, Ukrainian Member of Parliament (independent) Andriy Derkach has said.

According to him, the investigation should check and establish how the Pinchuk Foundation's activities were funded; it, among other projects, made a contribution of $29 million to the Clinton Foundation. "Yesterday, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies registered criminal proceeding number 12019000000001138. As part of this proceeding, I provided facts that should be verified and established by the investigation. Establishing these facts will also help the American side to conduct its own investigation and establish the origin of the money received by [Hillary] Clinton," Derkach said at a press conferences at Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday, December 17.

According to him, it was the independent French online publication Mediapart that first drew attention to the money withdrawal scheme from Ukraine and Pinchuk's financing of the Clinton Foundation.

"The general scheme is as follows. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lent money to Ukraine in 2015. The same year, Victor Pinchuk's Credit Dnepr [Bank] received UAH 357 million in a National Bank stabilization loan from the IMF's disbursement. Delta Bank was given a total of UAH 5.110 billion in loans. The banks siphoned the money through Austria's Meinl Bank into offshore accounts, and further into [the accounts of] the Pinchuk Foundation. The money siphoning scam was confirmed by a May 2016 ruling by [Kyiv's] Pechersky court. The total damage from this scam involving other banks is estimated at $800 million. The Pinchuk Foundation transferred $29 million to the Foundation of Clinton, a future U.S. presidential candidate from the Democratic Party," Derkach said.

He says it is important to conduct an investigation right now, as long as the relevant structures are still working; as it will be much more difficult to do it later.

"By all indirect indications, Victor Pinchuk is going to leave Ukraine. Now he is actively withdrawing assets and tying up loose ends. There is every reason to believe that this is an attempt to cover up corruption traces and an attempt to save himself and, most importantly, American top politicians from an international scandal. As investigative journalists told us, Pinchuk is currently closing his structures in Ukraine, including through liquidating the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. This is confirmed by the media. For example, in early December, the online publication Liga reported, citing sources in the National Bank, that Pinchuk was also going to sell his bank Credit Dnepr," Derkach said.

In addition to filing a claim with the law enforcement agencies, Derkach sent an official letter to U.S. senators, as well as to U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. In addition, he noted that issues of international corruption are a subject to be addressed by the Verkhovna Rada interim inquiry commission on probing facts of international corruption of senior officials of Ukraine.

Also, this case, according to Derkach, confirms the need to create an international group, "Stop Corruption. Friends of Ukraine," which, in addition to American members, may include experts, investigative journalists, and other designated persons.

"Ukraine should as fully as possible investigate the facts of international corruption, in which oligarchs, officials and politicians are involved not only in Ukraine, but also in the United States. This is the only way we can restore strategic relations between the two partners –Ukraine and America," Derkach summed up.