Georgian PM: corruption ‘fully eliminated’ at top Gov’t levels

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has claimed that corruption has been “fully eliminated” at the highest levels of government, saying it took his administration a year and five months to review and reorganise the system.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Kobakhidze said the process began after Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili raised concerns about corruption risks at a party congress.

“After the party congress, where Ivanishvili made a relevant statement about corruption risks, I became prime minister about a month later,” Kobakhidze said. “From that moment, it took us a year and five months to fully look into everything and reorganise the situation within the team.”

Kobakhidze added the government was now prepared to “respond immediately” to any evidence of corruption involving a minister or other senior government official.

“We can confidently say that corruption has been fully eliminated at the highest level of government,” he said, while adding that combating corruption at lower levels should remain an ongoing process.

The PM further challenged his political opponents to produce evidence of even one corrupt act involving a minister, saying that any such case would result in an immediate response.

Transparency International Georgia said in August 2026 that it had documented 340 alleged cases of elite corruption involving more than 283 current or former senior officials associated with the ruling Georgian Dream party. The organisation stressed that the cases in its database were allegations rather than established findings of criminal guilt.

The watchdog has also continued to publish investigations into alleged conflicts of interest, preferential treatment and links between Georgian Dream donors, businesses and state contracts. In September 2026, its publications included reports concerning alleged preferential treatment of party donors in Adjara and other alleged corruption-related cases.

Kobakhidze said the government's internal review had been difficult even from the position of prime minister, but maintained that the process had now been completed.

He again called on opponents to identify specific corruption cases involving the current government, saying authorities would respond immediately if credible evidence were presented.