Gov’t rejects “fake” media reports on PM’s charter flight to US
In the statement, the Service claimed the channel had “deliberately spread” false information to mislead the public, and noted the flight carrying the PM to Munich was “commercial”, adding budgetary funds were not used for the trip “or any other purposes” in the “private visit”. Photo: Government of Georgia Press Office
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The Strategic Communications Service of the Government of Georgia on Sunday rejected “fake reports” by a domestic, opposition-minded TV Pirveli channel that said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had travelled to the United States with his son on a Government-funded charter flight in August.
In the statement, the Service claimed the channel had “deliberately spread” false information to mislead the public, and noted the flight carrying the PM to Munich was “commercial”, adding budgetary funds were not used for the trip “or any other purposes” in the “private visit”.
It stressed Anzor Chubinidze, the Head of the Special State Protection Service of Georgia, had previously explained the flight was commercial and its costs was not reimbursed from the state budget, with the media outlet “deliberately omitting” the information to mislead the public.
The department further noted the plane on which the PM travelled to Munich was on the balance of the Special State Protection Service, and said the agency had been “fully authorised” to receive incomes from Governmental and budgetary structures, as well as from non-governmental, commercial and private individuals, adding similar commercial flights had been performed earlier, in a “number of occasions”.
The news reported by a local media outlet, alleging that Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has business interests in a “specific” private project, is “false and unsubstantiated information”, the Department of Strategic Communications of the Georgian Government on Saturday declared.
The Strategic Communications Service of the Government of Georgia on Thursday dismissed “false information” in media reports that said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had travelled to the United States with his son on a Government-funded charter flight in August.
The Department of Strategic Communications of the Georgian Government on Monday rejected the “misinformation campaign and deliberate misinterpretation” by some “politically engaged media” of the statement by the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili made on Sunday in an interview with Imedi TV.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said anyone who considered themselves a friend of the Georgian people must focus on “not encouraging a radical agenda in the country”, in reference to a part of the domestic opposition’s stance.
Revaz Javelidze, the Head of the Government Administration, on Sunday responded to reports by a domestic, opposition-minded TV Pirveli channel on Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s alleged trip to the United States with his son on a budget-funded charter flight in August, and called them “slanderous” and “false”.
Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday alleged a “deliberate campaign of lies” around foreign travels of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his family.
Anzor Chubinidze, the Head of the Special State Protection Service, on Tuesday said the Georgian Prime Minister's father, Tariel Garibashvili, had paid for the charter flight of the PM to Munich in August that became a subject of domestic TV reports for allegations on its expenses.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday said he and his family had “never used the state budget” to finance their travel expenses.