Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Bureau targets opposition over alleged financial opacity

Georgia’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, led by Razhden Kuprashvili, on Tuesday accused several opposition parties of financial opacity and raised suspicions about their funding sources, alleging potential violations of the law.

The bureau, whose chairman is appointed by the Prime Minister, is investigating whether the parties were receiving unlawful foreign funding.

Kuprashvili highlighted specific parties, including European Georgia, Strategy Agmashenebeli, the United National Movement, Girchi – More Freedom, and Strong Georgia. He claimed the parties had failed to fully disclose their financial backing, with concerns that their election campaigns could be funded by foreign donors through affiliated NGOs.

“Foreign money supporting political parties and the process under the mentioned scheme is a threat to the fair election process,” Kuprashvili claimed.

He said his office had ordered the Freedom Square movement, part of the Strong Georgia coalition, to submit detailed financial reports. This directive also extended to the Eastern European Center for Multiparty Democracy and its chairman, Levan Tsutskiridze, along with 24 members of the movement.

“From today, they are obligated to submit financial reports to the Anti-Corruption Bureau in accordance with the law, which will be made public,” Kuprashvili said. He further instructed all implicated parties to provide the agency with expenditure reports covering January 1 to August 31.
Kuprashvili did not address the activities of the ruling Georgian Dream party during his announcement.