Parliament official condemns Helsinki Commission claim Georgian Gov’t linked to call centre fraud

Gia Volski, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday said a claim by the United States Helsinki Commission that the Georgian Government was implicated in fraudulent activities involving a call centre scam “rather concerning” and a “fictional reality”.

Volski’s comment came after the Commission on Monday alleged the Georgian Dream party was relying on “dark money” from a network of scam call centres operating worldwide to fund its operations and “persecute” its opposition.

This is a very concerning statement. Everyone knows that the Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office, along with European prosecutors, is running an intense investigation regarding call centres to verify these crimes”, Volski commented.

The Vice Speaker highlighted the alleged involvement of David Kezerashvili, the wanted former Defence Minister of Georgia from the United National Movement Government, in the scandal.

Everything has shown that Kezerashvili, a sponsor and actual political leader of the National Movement, was implicated in this crime while European pensioners were being ripped off. Alongside the investigation, a feature was prepared and aired on a fairly authoritative television channel. Of course, no legal conclusions have been established yet, but this is the reality we are in,” he noted in reference to a BBC report that linked the former official to an operation involving fraudulent call centres.

Volski’s statement was preceded by Givi Mikanadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Education, Science, and Youth Affairs, calling the allegations, which he said had “neither evidence nor basis”, a “very rude and direct interference”, in the campaign process ahead of the elections.