Ruling party official shifts blame onto ex-PM Gakharia for not-publishing his successor’s decrees

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the chairman of the parliamentary faction of the Georgian Dream ruling party, on Tuesday claimed decrees issued by former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who resigned in January, were not published on the government’s website due to a decision made by his predecessor Giorgi Gakharia, who now chairs the For Georgia opposition party.

Speaking to journalists, Mdinaradze explained that Gakharia, who served as PM until February 18, 2021 and was followed by Garibashvili for nearly three years, “chose not to publish the decrees”, citing a need to update the website as a pretext.

Mdinaradze emphasized that attempts by various media outlets to attribute this decision to Garibashvili were debunked by Kobakhidze, the newly appointed Georgian PM’s, recent decision to publish the decrees, reaffirming the directive over not-publishing the decrees originated during Gakharia’s tenure.

Mdinaradze criticized the lack of transparency, noting that Gakharia’s decision rendered government decrees inaccessible to the public, a practice that persisted thereafter. 

The government website’s design was updated during Garibashvili’s term, which reverted to its previous interface after a few weeks despite funding from the European Union.

In a responding press briefing, Natia Mezvrishvili, the For Georgia representative, claimed the current authorities had been engaged in “discrediting” the party. 

She urged the authorities to publicize “all decrees and provide comprehensive explanations to the public”, stressing “unlike Garibashvili, who symbolizes corruption with zero published decrees”, 750 decrees had been issued under Gakharia, which she said included the “challenging period of managing the Covid crisis”.

“We are fully aware that our steadfast commitment to combating elite political corruption has made us the target of government falsehoods. However, we want to convey to GD and its supporters that we will not waver in our resolve. We demand transparency regarding all government decrees issued since September 2019”, she said. 

Mezvrishvili also addressed Kobakhidze if he was “truly committed to combating corruption”, initiate an investigation and establish an investigative commission to address the corruption allegations against several judges accused of formation of a clan in the system by domestic opposition and NGOs. 

The demands also included the summoning of the Prosecutor General to parliament to unveil the agency’s anti-corruption efforts, suspension of “illicit interview processes and launching investigations into numerous alleged crimes”, and rejoining the international anti-corruption network, “from which we withdrew a year ago due to fear of scrutiny regarding elite corruption”. 

In her comments, Mezvrishvili pointed to the need for an independent anti-corruption investigative bureau.