One of the outspoken MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Anri Okhanashvili slammed Eka Gigauri, Director of Transparency International-Georgia, for her input in the newly published USAID document - Seizing Windows of Opportunity to Dismantle Kleptocracy.
This guidance is a resource for USAID staff working in countries trapped in severe corruption, examining anti-corruption reforms carried out in Georgia between 2004-2012, and the current state of affairs in the country’s fight against kleptocracy.
The guide talks in length about the period after the Rose Revolution in 2003, positively assessing the fact that within a few months the new Government of Georgia “was already reorganizing the executive branch, enacting legislation, arresting corrupt former officials, and confiscating misappropriated assets,” which led to an 80% decline in bribery by 2005.
“From 2004 to 2012, Georgia pursued far-reaching reform of the public sector, from cutting red tape and right-sizing public institutions to rewriting tax laws and improving public services, which resulted in a dramatic reduction in bribery,” – reads the USAID document.
Speaking about backsliding into various forms of corruption since 2012, the report notes that rekleptification and common methods deployed by the Kremlin to close other countries’ reform windows covertly, Georgia’s Rose Revolution and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution “ended when Russia-backed oligarchs funded pro-Russian candidates who became presidents and rekleptified the two countries.”
Needless to say, that in case of Georgia, the document implies the founder of GD and informal governor of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as “Russia-backed Oligarch”, although his name is not mentioned. In that context, the USAID guide highlighted the work of Transparency-International Georgia and stressed that “as it became clear over the past decade that the richest oligarch [Bidzina Ivanishvili] in Georgia has captured the state, their research examined the impunity of corrupt officials, Georgia’s growing economic dependence on Russia, and the oligarch’s secret businesses in Russia.”
Mr Okhanashvili expressed his discontent with such paragraphs, commenting - “if the USAID is ready to sacrifice its reputation because of Eka Gigauri, they can enjoy such conclusions themselves.”
Another Georgian Dream MP, Irakli Zarkua commented along the same lines, addressing US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan.
"USAID is an organization that has been supporting Georgia in a number of reforms for years. There are people embedded there who are focused on the circulation of topics invented by the UNM activists and then transferred to the report. Before 2012, Georgia was ranked 70th in the corruption index. After 2012, we are ranked 31st. Moreover, among 200 states, Georgia ranks first in terms of budget transparency. These are the assessments of international organizations.
How can such a country be in the vortex of corruption, as it was said now?! This only indicates that they rely on the wrong conclusions - the conclusions of Mrs. Eka Gigauri. She is exactly the one, who was among the captains of Vano Merabishvili's (former Interior Minister of Georgia) regime," - said Irakli Zarkua.
დახურვა