PARIS, November 16. /TASS/. Ukraine must take an uncompromised position against corruption if it wants to have the European Union’s support and join the community, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
"Combating corruption in all its forms is an absolute priority for the European Union. To be able to rely on the European Union’s long-term support and continue following the path toward joining it, Ukraine must be uncompromising," he said in an interview with the France Info television channel, commenting on the high-profile corruption scandal in Ukraine.
"The European Union will not tolerate the dissemination of corruption practices inside it," he stressed.
On November 10, Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced a large-scale operation dubbed Midas to uncover a major corruption scheme in the energy sector. Searches were conducted at the home of Timur Mindich, who is often referred to as Zelensky’s "wallet," as well as at the residence of Justice Minister German Galuschenko, who had previously served as Minister of Energy, and at the Energoatom company. The investigation found that participants in the scheme had laundered around $100 million.
Charges in the case have been brought against Igor Mironyuk, a former adviser to the energy minister, Dmitry Basov, Energoatom executive director for safety, businessmen Alexander Zukerman and Igor Fursenko, Lesya Ustimenko and Lyudmila Zorina, as well as former Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Chernyshov, who is also seen as a member of Zelensky’s inner circle. Mindich left the country a few hours before searches started, and is now in Israel.