Transparency international Georgia published a new report on September 19 on the business connections of Georgian Members of Parliament (MPs), incompatible activities, and undeclared assets.
The data relies on information retrieved from the National Agency of the Public Registry and the declarations filed by the MPs.
TI Georgia says they received accusations when they published the report, including accusations made by MPs, which, they said, “served to tarnish our organization’s name,” including accusations of ‘irresponsible organization,’ ‘incompetent and lying reputation,’ ‘attempt to blemish the reputation of the Georgian MPs,’ ‘Kitchen gossip,’ and ‘deliberately providing misleading information.’
TI Georgia issued an official statement in response to the criticism, explaining that: “Our organization periodically publishes reports and findings on the activities of the Members of the Parliament, including their business connections and undeclared assets. The report published on September 19 is the fifth of this kind. In some instances, based on our recommendations and findings, the Members of the Parliament would fix the errors in their declarations,” reads the statement.
The report finds there are 51 MPs who have business connections or hold various company shares; 16 MPs have undeclared business assets; and 9 MPs are still registered as the directors of different companies or agencies.
Georgian Dream MPs Ivane Tsulaia (31 companies), Nino Tsilosani (13 companies) and Kakhaber Okriashvili (13 companies), have the largest business portfolio.
One recommendation of the report suggests the Civil Service Bureau to launch a monitoring of the asset declarations of the individuals identified in the report. Moreover, TI Georgia calls upon the Procedural Issues and Rules Committee of the Parliament of Georgia to examine the cases described in the report and respond according to all relevant legal requirements.
The full report can be read below: