Ukrainian anti-corruption officials have confirmed that Donald Trump's campaign manager's name appears in a list of so called "black accounts" made by the country's now-toppled president.
Paul Manafort, who is playing an important role in this year's U.S. presidential election, has denied that he received any "off-the-books" payments from the Ukrainian government.
Accounts of the controversial payments surfaced this weekend when The New York Times reported that Manafort's name appears on a list of payments amounting to $12.7 million between 2007 and 2012.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Anti-Corruption bureau confirmed the details in the Times story.
In the time period covered by the payment list, Manafort worked for former Ukrainian President Viktor F. Yanukovych, who was supportive of Russia's Vladmir Putin and was ousted in 2014.
The Anti-Corruption bureau spokesman emphasized that so far it has not been confirmed whether Manafort received the cash, since the bureau has not yet been able to confirm if signatures in the recipient column are Manafort's or not. The spokesman said the Anti-Corruption bureau is now conducting an analysis of the signatures.
“We can’t say 100 percent that this is his signature. We have an analysis going on to confirm whether this is his signature or not and, if not, who this signature belongs to," the spokesperson said.
The spokesman also confirmed that at the moment, they are not announcing any criminal investigations against any specific individuals mentioned in the “black accounts” while the preliminary investigation is continuing. They said at the moment they are conducting “a criminal investigation on whole ‘black accounts’” but not against individuals yet."
Manafort has denied receiving under the table payments from pro-Russian Ukrainian groups before becoming involved with the Trump campaign.
"I have never received a single 'off-the-books cash payment' as falsely "reported' by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia," Manafort said in a statement released to ABC News.
"Further, all of the political payments directed to me were for my entire political team: campaign staff (local and international), polling and research, election integrity and television advertising. The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical," he said.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook released a statement saying that the new revelations marked "more troubling connections between Donald Trump's team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine."
"Given the pro-Putin policy stances adopted by Donald Trump and the recent Russian government hacking and disclosure of Democratic Party records, Donald Trump has a responsibility to disclose campaign chair Paul Manafort's and all other campaign employees' and advisers' ties to Russian or pro-Kremlin entities, including whether any of Trump's employees or advisers are currently representing and or being paid by them," Mook said in a statement released Sunday night.
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