De-oligarchization bill being processed – ruling party MPs

The Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party MPs said on Monday that the country’s authorities are working on the de-oligarchization bill. However, claiming that the founder of the the GD Bidzina Ivanishvili “not expected to be dubbed as an oligarch.”

 

The European Parliament resolution earlier this month called for sanctions on Ivanishvili for his “destructive role” in Georgian politics and economics and his “connections with the Kremlin.”

 

The opposition claimed that “oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is a major obstacle on Georgia’s path towards Europe.”

 

GD MP David Sergeenko said on June 21  that a bill on de-oligarchization used by one of foreign states was being examined and would soon be made public.

 

“ If the bill is acceptable to the reality of Georgia, of course, it will be discussed,” Sergeenko said, who also serves as a vice Parliament speaker.

 

He suggested that de-oligarchization was not an individual issue addressed to Ivanishvili, as the EU had similar demands to all the three countries – Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.

 

Sergeenko refrained from answering whether Ivanishvili was an oligarch, stating that the law would determine that.

 

Ruling party MP Beka Davituliani said that Georgia would work on the law of de-oligarchization.

 

He stated that the law would be general, offering frameworks and criteria.

 

“Ivanishvili is not an oligarch and in my opinion, will not fit into this framework,” Davituliani said.

 

“De-oligarchization is a very general term. However, Ukraine, for example, has legislation under which any person who owns more than $100 million, finances political groups, or in any way influences political groups, mainly through financial sources, has a media outlet  or monopoly on the market is perceived as an oligarch,” Davituliani said.

 

Ivanishvili entered and left Georgian politics twice since his Georgian Dream coalition defeated the United National movement back in 2012.