The American Embassy on Onishchenko: This is not a question for us, but for the competent institutions
The Ukrainian oligarch with a Russian passport, who recently became a Macedonian citizen, Oleksandr Onishchenko, under the guise of equestrian sports, he passed all the security checks at the National Security Agency (ANB), from where they gave a positive opinion that he should get citizenship. However, the key in the whole procedure lies in those responsible in the NBA for strategic cooperation with partners, including the United States.
According to our information, as part of the standard procedure in the NBA for granting citizenship to a foreigner, the strategic cooperation department contacts the embassy to verify the specific applicant for citizenship, in this case Onishchenko. That's why "Free Press" asked the American Embassy if the NSA asked them to check Onishchenko if he was on one of their lists of interest, as well as if the embassy gave a positive or negative opinion about the oligarch.
"This is not a question for the embassy, contact the competent institutions", they answered us briefly from there.
Meanwhile, the National Security Agency is reeling from the scandal of granting citizenship to a blacklisted man who fled Ukraine after the Ukrainian anti-corruption bureau opened a case against him for money laundering and embezzlement that netted him $100 million in profits. reselling cheaply bought gas for high prices. In 2011, the Ukrainian media accused the oligarch of providing Gaddafi's son with underage girls for prostitution through the Miss pageants. The media reports that in 2010, Onyshchenko was charged with crimes under Article 303 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the police suggested that the charge also included pimping minors, because Onyshchenko organized pageants with young girls. In the case, according to the media, he and his partner, Walid Arfoosh, were accused of trafficking in women who were to be sexually exploited in Russia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.
The Parliamentary Commission for Oversight of the ANB's work on Wednesday called for the director of the institution and candidate for ambassador to France to come Viktor Dimovski, and on the agenda is the issue of how Onishchenko got Macedonian citizenship.
Before becoming a Macedonian citizen, Onishchenko moved to a bunch of countries and even to Uzbekistan. In April last year, he gave an interview in which he said that he had received proposals to come to Macedonia, Hungary and Russia. He does not say who called him to Macedonia. He says that during the week he is in Uzbekistan, and on weekends in Europe. In the interview, Onishchenko says that he is fed up with politics and that he is now focusing on business and horses, and that in Uzbekistan he has interests in gold, chemical industry and mineral fertilizers in the country in an "incredible market". In that text, it is stated that all US citizens are prohibited from doing any transactions with him and his money in the US is blocked.
"Sloboden Pechat" also checked in the Central Register and found no companies opened by Onishchenko or those in which he appears as a manager.
- Now my efforts and opportunities will be directed to Uzbekistan. Here the horse is a respected animal. A person riding a horse is considered a pious person whose sins have been forgiven, Onishchenko said in the interview.
By checking the voter list of the Republic of North Macedonia, we came to the knowledge that the basketball player Igor Penov he gave the oligarch Onishchenko to be his "tenant" for citizenship, but he does not tell the "Free Press" if and how he knows him.
The basketball player, his father Milcho Penov and the Russian oligarch Oleksandr Onishchenko, all three are registered at the same address in the voter's list in Pržino, Skopje, although Onishchenko never set foot at that address, but was only allowed by the owner of the house to claim Macedonian citizenship with that address. How did former basketball player Penov become so close to the wanted oligarch, accused of brokering the prostitution of Ukrainian girls, embezzling $100 million from Ukraine and spreading disinformation in favor of Trump in the US elections, to the point of allowing him to register for citizenship at home, with his home address, is not clear.
Igor Penov was not surprised that both Onishchenko and Onishchenko appear at the same address on his home address and in the voter list, but he did not want to explain to "Sloboden Pechat" how such circumstances came about and whether Onishchenko ever met him personally.
- Nonsense. There is nothing to talk about on this topic. I have nothing to say. What do you think, how did he land here?, basketball player Penov told us in the short phone conversation, before thanking us for calling and before ending the phone call.
The team of "Sloboden Pechat" spoke yesterday with the owner of the house in Pržino, who introduced himself as Mile and is most likely the basketball player's father. Asked where Oleksandr Onishchenko is and if he ever lived at that address, he told us that he is free, that he brought Macedonia a bunch of gold medals in equestrian sports and that the basketball player only did him a favor by giving him permission to be registered at that address. According to what the landlord told us, Onishchenko never set foot on Przyno Street.
"Sloboden Pechat" also checked the Central Register and found no companies opened by Onishchenko or those in which he appears as a manager.
- Now my efforts and opportunities will be directed to Uzbekistan. Here the horse is a respected animal. A person riding a horse is considered a pious person whose sins have been forgiven, Onishchenko said in the interview.
