Georgian NGO study shows “weakened ability” to monitor finances, corruption risks in sports federations under current Minister

A new study by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, a Georgian-based non-governmental organisation, shows “weakened ability” of non-governmental groups to monitor finances and corruption risks at the country’s sports federations under Sport Minister Thea Tsulukiani, the IDFI said on Friday.

The NGO’s report also found a “lack of access” to information on implementation of recommendations of the State Audit Office by Georgia Rugby Union, the governing body of the sport, and points to the Office only being able to inspect four out of 65 sports federations in Georgia since 2018.

The IDFI has called the use of the Office as the only control mechanism for similar organisations “ineffective”, and has decried the “significantly complicated” process of receiving public information from federations over their budget spending.

The NGO points to the appointment of Tsukukiani in March 2021 as the point after which the organisation has not received responses from the Sport Ministry to IDFI’s requests on public information over the subject. IDFI said the Ministry had ignored requests for budget spending documents of the Rugby Union since the Minister’s appointment, and noted it had encountered the same issue with the Justice Ministry during Tsulukiani’s time as its head.

• Find the full IDFI study Financial Irregularities at Sports Federations and the Non-transparent Process of Reacting to Them: the Example of the Rugby Union [in Georgian]

The non-governmental organisation said “numerous violations” had been revealed by the state body in its report of the 2014-2018 compliance audit of budget expenditures by the Rugby Union. The violations were reported in remuneration of labour, procurement, unconfirmed expenditures, business trips and other areas.

Following the disclosures of violations in Rugby Union procurements by the Audit Office, the distribution and ownership of shares in Rugby Union-related companies involved in the process were changed,” the IDFI report also says.

The IDFI stresses the importance of having “effective control mechanisms” monitoring budget funds allocated to sports federations, as well as effective oversight of the implementation of recommendations issued by the Audit Office, with its report.

Sports federations, unions and associations in Georgia received 98.6 million GEL ($32.1mln/€29.5mln) from the state budget, out of which the Rugby Union was funded by 27.5 million GEL ($8.9mln/8.2mln), Minister Tsulukiani said in December.