Georgian central bank amends int’l sanctions compliance to exempt citizens without court judgement

The National Bank of Georgia on Tuesday said it had amended its regulation on compliance with the international financial sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, exempting Georgian citizens from being sanctioned without domestic court judgement.

The body said it was making the changes to the regulations while “guided by the Constitution of Georgia and the presumption of innocence”, and with the goal to “fully realise the rights and freedoms” of the country’s nationals.

The restriction reverses the Bank’s decision earlier on Tuesday to restrict access to bank assets and financial transactions to Otar Partskhaladze, the former Prosecutor General of the country who was last week sanctioned by the United States Department of State for alleged ties with Russia.

• Georgian central bank restricts access to bank assets, financial transactions to US-sanctioned former Prosecutor General

In a follow-up statement on Tuesday explaining the reversal of the original decision, the NBG said it believed “international sanctions may not be applied to a Georgian citizen unless there is a guilty verdict in the applicable case against them” from a Georgian court.

The amendments to the Decree of the NBG Governor make provisions for sanctioning Georgian citizens and legal entities registered in the country with shares owned by sanctioned nationals from the country in cases where a “legally binding judgement of conviction” has been issued by a domestic court against them.

The Bank also said the financial sector of the country was operating “in full compliance” with the international sanctions.