Tbilisi. According to the IDFI, on 13 July 2022, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) published the addendum to the Fourth Evaluation Round second compliance report for Georgia, which evaluates the progress made in implementing the outstanding recommendations since the second compliance report. According to the assessment, eight out of the 16 recommendations issued by GRECO to Georgia are still unimplemented. IDFI once again calls on authorities to acknowledge the existing challenges addressing of which is critical for successful implementation of reforms, take all necessary measures for implementing GRECO recommendations, and renew the implementation of Anti-Corruption reforms. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. On May 30, 2022, OECD published a pilot report on the assessment of the corruption environment in Georgia. "Even though the report does not include information about the scores received by Georgia and the ratings of fulfillment of indicators in each performance area, based on the descriptive part of the monitoring report it can be said that almost all the thirteen areas are characterized by a low level of performance". Learn more... Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. According to the TI Georgia’s new survey, financial inequality between political parties and ineffective state oversight of political corruption remain major problems in Georgia. “Both in terms of total revenues and expenditures (up to GEL 40 million each), the ruling party's finances were almost twice as high as the other 16 parties combined, indicating an extremely unequal distribution of finances between the parties, which is a traditional problem of Georgian politics. Revenues received by political parties: 17 political parties received a total of GEL 43 million of revenues in 2021. The ruling party - Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia got 60% - about GEL 26 million of this amount. The United National Movement was second with GEL 5.1 million and Lelo for Georgia was third with GEL 3.3 million; Expenditures of political parties: 17 political parties spent a total of GEL 41.9 million in 2021, of which 62% - GEL 25.8 million was spent by the Georgian Dream party. The United National Movement was second with GEL 5.1 million, and Lelo for Georgia was third with GEL 3.3; The alleged cases of political corruption or other types of violations: In 2021, the companies connected with the donors of the ruling party had won public tenders worth about GEL 320 million and simplified public procurement contracts of GEL 19 million. During the same period, the donors directly or indirectly affiliated with these companies contributed over GEL 4.5 million for the benefit of the Georgian Dream, is noted in the survey. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Tranpsarency International Georgia publishes the blogpost: Who Runs Georgia Irakli Garibashvili - Prime Minister with an Informal Master. “Who Runs Georgia is a new series of publications aimed at highlighting the allegations of corruption against the country’s ruling elite”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has analyzed the official data related to privatization of the state-owned real estate by the central government in 2013-2021 and found that the process of privatization contains significant corruption risks. Extremely low competition, lack of transparency, absence of integrity mechanisms and inadequate response to alleged violations – these are the key challenges that create corruption risks in the process of privatization. “In Georgia, a significant part of land resources is still owned by the state. With the current rate of privatization, the process is expected to last for many more years. Given the above-mentioned challenges and the fact that there are no high-level corruption prevention mechanisms in the country, there is a high probability that the state property will be disposed of in favor of private interests of specific individuals, at the expense of state and public interests, a number of alleged examples of which are provided in this study”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to the information of the TI Georgia, during his parliamentary address on June 22, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke that Georgia is amongst champions in the fight against corruption. “The government of Georgia repeatedly misinterprets international rankings to conceal real problems in the country. This time the Prime Minister utilized the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021. He stated that according to the CPI, Georgia ranked 51st in 2012 and 45th in 2021, disregarding that the score obtained by a country is more important than the rank. Georgia’s score has not improved significantly since 2012 when the country had 52 points out of 100; Nine years later, in 2021 Georgia had a score of 55, indicating the stagnation of anti-corruption reforms in the country. 55 points is an average result. For example, the scores of the top 10 performing countries exceed 80. He stated that Georgia is the unconditional leader in the Associated Trio, compared to Ukraine and Moldova. According to the CPI, Georgia does have a better result, which is largely due to the low level of petty bribery. However, successful anti-bribery reforms were carried out 18 years ago and cannot be recognized as the current government’s achievement. What the CPI scores actually indicate is that similar ambitious reforms have not been implemented in the last 9 years. Moreover, the CPI uses the term "state capture" only with reference to Georgia and not Moldova or Ukraine, which the Prime Minister also did not mention”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Representatives of IDFI, within the scopes of the Eurasian Academic Anti-Corruption Network (EAACN) participated in the UNCHAINED podcast regarding the sustainability of the anticorruption reforms in Georgia. “Despite the fact that for the last 15 years Georgia was the leader in implementing the anticorruption reforms in Eastern Partnership countries, the anticorruption features of Georgia are getting worse. Civil society agrees that it is important to continue the implementation of anticorruption reforms and fulfill the recommendations of the international organizations.” Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. The Annual Report provides information about TI Georgia's essential events and primary directions that our professional team has worked on in the past year. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. According to the IDFI, The amendments to the Law of Georgia on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing are not enough to address the challenges existing in the country in this direction and it is necessary for the Georgian Government to take more ambitious steps. IDFI calls on the authorities to not spare efforts in implementing MONEYVAL and FATF recommendations. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

US Department of State published 2021 report of religious freedom. See more…

Tbilisi. According to the 2021 Open Budget Survey (OBS), conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), Georgia got 87 points out of 100 in state budget transparency. This is an improvement compared to the 2019 survey’s result (81 points). With this indicator, Georgia took first place in the world ranking of 120 countries, while according to the results of the 2019 survey, Georgia was 5th. The entire research process took approximately 18 months. The OBS 2021 assesses only events, activities, or developments that occurred up to 31 December 2020. Transparency International Georgia has been conducting this research for International Budget Partnership and assessing Georgia’s progress since 2012. According to the TI Georgia, Georgia still has challenges in terms of citizen involvement in the budget process. In particular, out of 100 possible points, Georgia received 44 points (4th place in the world) in terms of ensuring citizen participation in the budgetary process, and 74 points (21st place) in terms of budget oversight. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information publishes the report: Assessment of the Quality of Public-Private Dialogue in Drafting Normative Acts - 2020-2021. “The purpose of this report is to assess the quality of involvement of the private sector in the drafting of laws and regulations having a significant economic impact. The report includes an assessment of the quality of dialogue between the public and private sectors in the process of drafting 18 laws and regulations adopted between January 2020 and September 2021. 8 laws and 8 subordinate normative acts were selected for evaluation at the central level, along with 2 normative acts adopted by local self-government bodies. The selected municipalities were Ozurgeti and Zugdidi”. Read more…  Source: idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Civil Society Institute (CSI), along with the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) and the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), on May 24th, presented a new 2021 country report for CSO Meter: A Compass to Conducive Environment and CSO Empowerment.  The CSO Meter is a monitoring tool used to assess the legislative and practical environment for CSOs, human rights defenders, and activists in Eastern European Partnership countries. The report covers 11 areas pertaining to enabling environment for CSOs and assigns quantitative scores under each area. The scores range from 1 to 7, where 1 signifies the lowest possible score (extremely unfavourable – authoritarian - environment) and 7 signifies the highest possible score (extremely favourable environment).  According to the 2021 CSO Meter report, the environment for CSOs, human rights defenders, and activists in Georgia was assessed with a score of 4.7 out of 7 (Legislation: 5.2, Practice 4.3).  Based on the 2021 CSO-Meter findings, Georgia ranked as a medium-risk country for CSOs.  The Report is implemented by the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL).  Country Report 2021...

Tbilisi. Together with the management of the Agency For State Care And Assistance For the (Statutory) Victims of Human trafficking, UN Women invited representatives of Global Rights for Women to Georgia. Experts will evaluate the state funded services provided to DV/VAW victims by shelters and crisis centers, and make recommendations to improve these services. Read more… Source: The organization’s page on the social network

Tbilisi. According to the Transparency International Georgia the Court Fullfiled a Political Order by Punishing Nika Gvaramia - the Head of the Critical Media. “Based on the study of the case materials and observation of the court process, we can conclude that the case is politically motivated. It aims to punish Nika Gvaramia and disrupt the activities of a critical media outlet. The use of the justice system for media censorship and intimidation sends a clear message to other critical media outlets as well. This verdict is a continuation of the political persecution that has been waged against Government’s opponents for years”, is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Samegrelo. Transparency International Georgia publishes the blogpost: Companies of uncle and cousin of the Mayor of Senaki win local tenders. “Five tenders announced by the Senaki City Hall in March 2022, whose total value amounts to GEL 2 614 550 were won without competition by JSC Arkeopolisi, a company owned by Demur Gadelia, the uncle of the Mayor of Senaki Vakhtang Gadelia, and Indiko LLC, a company of Ioseb Gadelia, the Mayor’s cousin. The Head of the Administration Service of the Senaki City Hall, Nana Zarandia, is also connected with Arkeopolisi JSC. She is also the Deputy Chairperson of the Tendering Commission of the Senaki City Hall and has signed documents stating that she does not have a conflict of interest in relation to JSC Arkeopolisi and Indiko LLC. TI Georgia calls on the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service to study the process of participation of JSC Arkeopolisi and Indiko LLC in the tenders of the Senaki City Hall and to establish whether or not it contains possible signs of corruption”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. On May 11, 2022, the Public Defender of Georgia and Prevention for Progress, a non-governmental organization, presented a joint report “Impact of Covid 19 on the Health and Other Rights of Prisoners and Staff of the Penitentiary System”. The study assesses the impact of special measures taken by the Special Penitentiary Service from March 2020 through 2021 on the rights situation of prisoners. “The results of the study show that restrictions were overused during the pandemic period and no appropriate efforts were made to find possible alternative solutions. No appropriate steps were taken by the state institution to reduce the number of prisoners”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. According to the IDFI International organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) annually publishes Global Press Freedom index results and rankings for 180 countries in the world. Results and estimations for 2022 became available to the public today.  Index for 2022 shows significant worsening of freedom of media in Georgia compared to last year. Read more… Source: idfi.ge

Samtskhe-Javakheti. Transparency International Georgia periodically looks into the practice of “revolving door” in Georgia. “Revolving door” refers to the movement of individuals between public-sector and private-sector jobs, that involves risks of corruption and conflicts of interest. This time around, TI Georgia have exposed such fact in the Borjomi municipality. “When Piran Gogichaishvili, the owner of Mshenebloba da Proektireba LLC (Construction and Design LLC), was appointed to a position in the Borjomi City Council in 2018, he transferred his company to Vasil Mchedlidze for free. However, in 2022, after his term of office expired, the former City Council member reclaimed the company. As it transpired, Mshenebloba da Proektireba LLC and a sole entrepreneur, Vasil Mchedlidze, received GEL 2,203,460 through 52 public procurement contracts awarded by the Borjomi municipality over the period between 2018 and 2021”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia analyzed the business interests of Tbilisi City Assembly members. It revealed cases of alleged political corruption, incomplete declaration of business activities, and other essential facts that may be of interest to voters. “15 of the 29 public officials in the Tbilisi City Council filled in the asset declarations improperly; 16 members of the Georgian Dream faction in Tbilisi City  Council donated an identical amount of money (5-10 000 GEL) to the party on the same day (October 12, 2021), amounting to a total of 115,000 GEL; 23 of the 50 members of the Tbilisi City Council have business ties. 12 of them are public officials; TI Georgia urges Civil Service Bureau of Georgia to review the violations found in the asset declarations of public officials below and respond in accordance with the law”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Public Defender submitted alternative report on enforcement of rulings taken against Georgia by European Court and UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women to Parliament of Georgia. “The alternative report reviews the general measures taken by the State to enforce the rulings delivered by the European Court of Justice against Georgia in the following cases: Tsintsabadze Group, Identity Group, N.Ts. and Others v. Georgia, Amiridze v. Georgia, and Merabishvili v. Georgia. In addition, the report assesses the general measures taken against Georgia by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in the case of Khanum Jeiranova. The document analyzes the adequacy of the steps taken by the State for the enforcement of the rulings”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Social Justice Center,s report envelopes the administered cases and their respective analyses within the framework of the project "Legal Aid Network for Activists" in the period from the beginning of 2021 through March 2022. see more... source: socialjustice.org