Funds for Trump's election campaign ex-chief might have gone through Lithuania's Swedbank

VILNIUS – Suspicious funds might have gone to a company linked to Paul Manafort, US President Donald Trump's presidential election campaign's ex-chairman, via an account at the Swedish bank Swedbank's account in Lithuania, the 15min.lt news website reported on Wednesday.

The website states that evidence collected in cooperation with the Swedish television channel SVT shows that millions went to the company mentioned in the investigation on Manafort's money evasion and secret foreign bank accounts.

According to the website, Manafort received almost 1 million US dollars into his account in Cyprus in 2012 from a UK-registered company Inlord Sales. The latter received the funds into two accounts, one in Lithuania and one in Latvia, from the account of offshore company Vega Holding in Lithuania. The latter account is also linked to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

According to SVT's information, the Manafort-linked company received several dozen million US dollars from Vega Holding.

The Lithuanian account might have been opened at Ukio Bankas, the 15min.lt reported. Vega Holding transferred 25.2 million US dollars into this account in 2011.

According to the 15min.lt, offshore company Vega Holding had an account at Swedbank's Lithuanian branch from 2004 until 2014.

Swedbank Lithuania refrains from commenting on the situation. And the central Bank of Lithuania is of a position that none of the 50 companies mentioned by SVT as possible instruments for money laundering were clients of Swedbank Lithuania.