TI: Dealing with various forms of corruption remains major challenge for Georgia
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Local NGO Transparency International Georgia (TI) says that dealing with various forms of corruption remains major challenge for Georgia.
Abuse of power for personal gain is common among Georgia’s public officials, while the authorities don’t react to such cases effectively, meanwhile petty corruption is still extremely rare” reads the official statement of TI.
TI notes that different forms of corruption remain a significant challenge for Georgia.
International anti-corruption day is celebrated on December 9 and TI has released the results of a public survey which was conducted by the Caucasus Resource Centre upon TI’s request in early 2019.
36% percent of those who surveyed believe that abuse of power for personal gain by public officials in common, while 51% think that instances of corruption are not investigated properly when high-ranking officials or influential individuals with links to the ruling party are involved”, reads the official statement of TI.
These are the results of the public opinion survey conducted upon TI’s request from February 20 to march 5.
In it's statement TI says that a number of worrying trends concerning the fight against corruption are evident in Georgia:
- Growing pressure on independent and pro-opposition media and attempts to interfere in their operation
- Politicizing of the law enforcement bodies and their use for for exerting pressure on political opponents
- Suspicious success of the companies linked to public officials in public procurement and incomplete disclosure of the public official’s assets and business connections
- Cases of nepotism and favouritism in civil service
- Refusal to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections through a fully proportional system
TI recommends Georgian authorities to promote the establishment of a pluralistic political system, ‘which would make it possible to halt the process of state capture’, to respect the freedom of media and to establish an independent anti-corruption agency that will be responsible for effective enforcement of anti-corruption laws.
The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO has published a new report on how Georgia has complied with GRECO’s 16 recommendations on preventing corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors provided to the Georgian authorities back in January 2017.
A new report by the Council of Europe has acknowledged considerable progress in reducing corruption in Georgia and improving the country’s standing in related international ratings.
The Government of Georgia has adopted an 2017-2018 anti-corruption strategy which is focused on prevention and higher level transparency in state institutions.
Global anti-corruption organisation, Transparency International (TI) has today released its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Georgia has cemented itself as among the best of Eastern European states and some European Union nations.
Transparency International has released its Corruption Perceptions Index 2019, with Georgia ranking 44th among 180 countries and territories across the world, standing on top of all Eastern European and Central Asian countries.In the index, which measures sector corruption according to experts and business people, Georgia has received 56 scores of total 100.
The Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO has published its annual report for 2019 earlier today on how CoE member states (as well as Belarus, Kazakhstan and the US) are preventing corruption among MPs, judges and prosecutors.
Only three of 12 key institutions in Georgia have been highly assessed by TI in a report on facilitating democratic governance and preventing corruption in Georgia, reads the National Integrity System (NIS) assessment published by Transparency International Georgia, which covers the period between 2015 and 2020.
Over the past two years, Georgia has implemented two more recommendations issued by the Council of Europe anti-corruption body GRECO in 2016 on the prevention of corruption amongst MPs, judges and prosecutors, said GRECO in a new compliance report published today.