Podesta Group – a lobby firm which Rwandan exiled politicians have been paying tens of thousands of dollars to access US lawmakers, is being investigated in the Russian election medalling probe.
The firm has been paid total of Rwf 440,000 to help Rwandan tycoon Tribert Rujugiro and his partner Dr David Himbara access Congressman Chris Smith, chair of House foreign affairs sub committee on Africa. The payments were made at different times since 2014, and as recently as July this year. (Read details here: Rwanda Dissidents Pay $440,000 For Hearing In US Congress)
On Monday, the Podesta Group and another company with which it had worked, Mercury Public Affairs, were referenced — though not by name — in an indictment of two former Trump campaign officials, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The details are reported by The New York Times.
Both firms have been subpoenaed for records and testimony about their work on behalf of a client referred to them in 2012 by Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates, the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, a nonprofit group based in Brussels.
The work for the European Center, which ended in 2014, was cited in the indictment on Monday as part of a “scheme” by Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates to gain support in Washington for their longtime client, the pro-Russian leader Viktor F. Yanukovych, a former president of Ukraine, while evading disclosure requirements for foreign lobbying.
Back to the Rwanda saga, as a result of the cash payments, Himbara secured a hearing on September 27.
