DEMOCRATIC leaders of the house impeachment inquiry issued subpoenas yesterday to two associates of President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who were arrested on charges of campaign finance violations overnight as they tried to flee the United States.

Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-born American, and Igor Fruman, a Belarus-born US citizen, were arrested at Dulles Airport in Virginia on Wednesday evening as they sought to board an international flight with one-way tickets, Geoffrey Berman, US attorney for the southern district of New York, told a press conference.

The Florida-based businessmen “reportedly worked with Giuliani to pressure Ukraine for dirt on Trump’s opponents”, said Representative Adam Schiff, who is spearheading the impeachment inquiry.

The house is conducting an inquiry into Trump over alleged abuse of power for asking Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to conduct a probe into potential 2020 White House rival Joe Biden and his son, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Schiff said Parnas and Fruman were ordered to turn “key documents” over to investigators, and to testify before the congressional panels.

“I don’t know those gentlemen… I don’t know what they do,” Trump said yesterday. “Maybe you will have to ask Rudy.”

The subpoenas were issued within hours of the unsealing of an indictment charging Parnas and Fruman with campaign finance crimes.

The pair were accused of funnelling foreign funds to US political campaigns, including US$325,000 (RM1.37 million) which went to a fund-raising committee for Trump’s 2020 re-election.

Foreign nationals are barred from contributing to US election campaigns.

According to the indictment, much of the funds came from “Foreign National-1”, a Russian businessman seeking retail marijuana licences in the US.

“Foreign National-1” is alleged to have given Parnas and Fruman US$1 million in two US$500,000 instalments, in September 2018 and October 2018.

The indictment said the illegal contributions by Parnas and Fruman were made “to advance their own personal financial interests” and the political interests of “at least one Ukrainian government official”.

“The defendants concealed the scheme from the candidates, campaigns, federal regulators, and the public by entering into secret agreements, laundering foreign money through bank accounts in the names of limited liability corporations, and through the use of straw donors,” it said.

Parnas and Fruman allegedly created a front company, Global Energy Producers (GEP), to funnel a US$325,000 contribution to a fundraising committee identified as “Committee-1”.

“Committee-1” is a pro-Trump fundraising committee known as America First Action, according to press reports.

The indictment does not make any specific mention of Giuliani but refers to efforts to remove the US ambassador to Ukraine, something the former New York mayor was involved in.

House Democrats are looking into whether the ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, was removed early because she failed to go along with Giuliani’s bid to get Ukraine to open an investigation into the Bidens. – AFP, October 11, 2019.