It’s ‘crucial’ who will determine oligarch’s status in a law - UNM’s Gotsiridze

It’s ‘crucial’ who will determine oligarch’s status in a law - UNM’s Gotsiridze

The law on deoligarchisation, which is part of 12-point conditions for Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status, should be adopted. However, it is crucial in the law who will determine the oligarch’s status, the United National Movement opposition party MP, Roman Gotsiridze, told Front News on Monday. 

"The relevant Ukrainian law is quite good and the criteria are correctly drafted there. However, the fourth criterion which concerns the possession of a monopoly in any field of economy, is improper for Georgia. Nevertheless, this cannot be a reason to reject this law. The problem lies in something else - the Georgian bill, which has been copied from the Ukrainian law, and the latter’s legislation [as well] has one drawback - who determines the status of a person as an oligarch”, said the MP. 

The legislator suggested that in the Ukrainian law the status was determined by the Security Council, “that is, in fact, the armed forces, which is bad”. 

“In the Georgian version, the status is determined by the parliament, which is better, but still bad. It is also a fact that Bidzina Ivanishvili [the founder of the ruling party who is accused by the opposition of running the country from the backstage] will never be included in the oligarch register by this parliament”, Gotsiridze stated.

He said that the status should be determined by a special independent commission and noted that accepting such a commission would reveal whether the current authorities were really interested in the adoption of an “effective law”.





The law on deoligarchisation, which is part of 12-point conditions for Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status, should be adopted. However, it is crucial in the law who will determine the oligarch’s status, the United National Movement opposition party MP, Roman Gotsiridze, told Front News on Monday. 

"The relevant Ukrainian law is quite good and the criteria are correctly drafted there. However, the fourth criterion which concerns the possession of a monopoly in any field of economy, is improper for Georgia. Nevertheless, this cannot be a reason to reject this law. The problem lies in something else - the Georgian bill, which has been copied from the Ukrainian law, and the latter’s legislation [as well] has one drawback - who determines the status of a person as an oligarch”, said the MP. 

The legislator suggested that in the Ukrainian law the status was determined by the Security Council, “that is, in fact, the armed forces, which is bad”. 

“In the Georgian version, the status is determined by the parliament, which is better, but still bad. It is also a fact that Bidzina Ivanishvili [the founder of the ruling party who is accused by the opposition of running the country from the backstage] will never be included in the oligarch register by this parliament”, Gotsiridze stated.

He said that the status should be determined by a special independent commission and noted that accepting such a commission would reveal whether the current authorities were really interested in the adoption of an “effective law”.