UNM’s Pavlenishvili: Blaming war-torn Ukraine is immoral; Moldova has no corruption scandals like Georgia

“The Ukrainian nation faces an extraordinarily grave problem in the form of the barbarous aggression that Russia is waging. At such a time, it is both politically and morally unacceptable to question why corruption facts were not included in the report,” the United National Movement member, Irakli Pavlenishvili, stated.

Pavlenishvili commented on the circulated information according to which the European Commission removed assessments on corruption and human rights from the enlargement assessment document in the cases of Ukraine and Moldova.

“When we speak about Georgian Dream, it is deeply ironic when people talk about others’ corruption when they themselves have, in fact, had all their government’s high officials arrested and charged with corruption. These are people who say, ‘We are at peace, there’s a war there.’ They ought to be somewhat ashamed to compare themselves to a country at war, claiming they’ve surpassed it and done better in corruption. Setting aside the political aspect, it is immoral to point fingers at Ukraine, at a country at war, saying ‘there’s corruption there and why aren’t they talking about it,'” Pavlenishvili stated.

Asked to comment on Moldova, Pavlenishvili responded: “I haven’t heard of corruption scandals in Moldova in recent years like those that existed in Georgia.”

Pavlenishvili also responded to another question: why are Ukraine and Moldova exceptions if other countries have been included in the report?

“They’re not exceptions. There exists a specific reason in Ukraine why less attention is devoted to such details. It is clear to every rational person that this is a country at war, fighting against Russia. It is well known what size army Russia possesses and what scale of aggression Ukraine must repel. It is understandable that Georgian Dream lacks political ethics and morals, but others possess them, so that there isn’t constant talk about corruption with regard to such a country, which, amongst other things, is defending Europe from Russian aggression.

Such issues do not exist in Moldova. In any case, I cannot recall any recent corruption scandals in Moldova where the individuals involved openly admitted to corruption, as was the case with Garibashvili, Liluashvili, Partskhaladze, and Mikautadze. If you are aware of any, please provide specific details,” Pavlenishvili stated.