UNM’s Baramidze: ‘this is catastrophe - they are destroying army, security, police’

Giorgi Baramidze, one of the leaders of the opposition United National Movement, on Monday accused the Georgian Government of systemic corruption, alleging that senior officials are undermining the country’s security institutions.

“It breaks my heart to think that someone could serve as Georgia’s Minister of Defence and steal money from their own army. This is a catastrophe. They are destroying the army, security, and police,” Baramidze said.

He added Georgia was being run by “criminals who claim to be politicians,” and the country’s economy was entangled in illicit financial flows.

“There is a huge amount of ‘black money’ in the country - from call centres worth hundreds of millions, from Russian money laundering also worth billions, from illicit transit deals, blatant theft from the state budget, and siphoning off money from the economy, including gold production,” Baramidze noted.

He claimed that internal disputes among criminal groups over the division of funds had even fueled violent incidents.

“There is so much money accumulated inside the system that some want to take a bigger share. If someone fails to contribute to the common fund - Bidzina’s fund - they are forced to pay”, he argued.

Baramidze also referred to Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s own remarks about potential savings of ₾700 million ($259.32mln) annually from reforms in state-owned enterprises, which he said reflected the scale of mismanagement. “This money wasn’t just disappearing — it was ending up in someone’s pocket,” he said.

Turning to the energy sector, Baramidze alleged corruption in hydropower development and electricity trade with Russia.

“Everything is classified - we do not know at what price electricity is imported from Russia, or at what price it is exported. The regime’s own prosecutors admitted that ₾700 million was stolen from the Samtredia-Grigoleti highway project. Has anyone been named? Has the money been returned?” he asked.