Ex-Pres Saakashvili promises $200,000 reward for leaked materials on Georgian Gov’t

Georgia’s jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili has pledged financial rewards to law enforcement officials who provide evidence against the current government.

In a statement posted on social media on Friday, Saakashvili expressed support for opposition leader Levan Khabeishvili’s initiative to offer $200,000 to any member of what he described as “Ivanishvili's punitive bodies” who delivers material implicating the government in abuses.

“We will pay $200,000 to all representatives of Ivanishvili’s punitive bodies if they hand over materials on the regime’s activities - for example, documentation of torture against protest participants, or if they lay down their arms and refuse to act against demonstrators [during pro-European protests],” Saakashvili wrote.

He added that the payments would be made “within a month” after what he called the “regime change,” and said the funding would come in parallel with efforts to recover assets allegedly stolen by what he described as “Ivanishvili’s mafia.”