Defence Ministry announces disclosure of ex-Pres. Saakashvili’s flights while in office

The Ministry of Defence of Georgia on Thursday announced it would disclose the agreements concluded with the domestic airline Georgian Airways over foreign trips of the currently imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili while the latter was in office, following the scandal related to current Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s commercial flight to the US in August to accompany his son to Pennsylvania University. 

 

The body claimed there was a “high public interest” to Saakashvili’s flights, while the domestic opposition believed the move aimed to “overshadow” Garibashvili’s scandalous flight. 

 

“If there was classified information and Saakashvili was flying for personal purposes at the expense of the state budget, why do we learn this in the 11th year of the Georgian Dream being in power? Because now this issue was needed to save Garibashvili’s  post. This is injustice”, opposition MP Teona Akubardia said on Thursday. 

 

Fellow MP Aleksandre Elisashvili noted the body’s announcement was “ no longer embarrassing, no longer funny, and even more so, it is not serious – an investigation should be launched both on this case and on Garibashvili’s private trip”. 

 

Anzor Chubinidze, the Head of the Special State Protection Service, claimed earlier this week Garibashvili’s father had paid about 34,000 euros for the commercial flight to Munich, while from Germany the PM and his son took a regular flight to the US.