Transparency International reveals business activities of public officials
22 out of 29 public officials violated the requirements of the law relating to the disclosure of commercial interest. Photo: Transparency.ge.
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Transparency International Georgia reports that 29 out of 64 ministers and deputy ministers have business interests and have not completed asset declarations required by the law this year.
Most of the officials with business interests (22 out of 29) have violated the requirements of the law relating to the disclosure of commercial interest, reads the official statement of TI.
The law of Georgia on Conflict of Interest and Corruption in Public Institutions reads that public officials have a right to own a share in any company, but they should temporarily transfer that share to another person.
Also, they are prohibited from holding the position of head of any company.
The research of asset declarations revealed:
- Three ministers have incompletely declared the business activities of themselves or their family members: Minister of Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili, Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze and Minister of Agriculture Levan Davitashvili
- Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Ioseb Chelidze, Deputy Minister of Finance Giorgi Kakauridze, Deputy Ministers of Education, Shalva Gogoladze and Badri Maisuradze, Deputy Minister of Defense Juansher Burchuladze and Deputy Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Badri Nanetashvili have shares in private companies, but did not transfer the right of management to another person.
- Four officials holds the position of a director in a private company – Deputy Minister of Defence Juansher Burchuladze, Deputy Minister of Health Giorgi Tsotskolauri, Deputy Minister of Education Badri Maisuradze and first Deputy Minister of Agriculture Giorgi Khanishvili.
In its research TI explains that public officials are required to complete an asset declaration annually, including income of their family members as well.
‘An asset declaration is an important anti-corruption mechanism, though public officials with business interests don’t take seriously the issue’.
Later, Maia Tskitishvili said that she hadn’t read TI’s survey, adding that neither she, nor her husband have any business interests.
Other public officials have not made any public statement regarding the issue.
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