Georgian PM claims transparency of foreign funding “key issue”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday claimed ensuring transparency of foreign funding of domestic organisations and reducing “disinformation” were “key issues” in the country.

Kobakhidze said “ambiguity in funding” would enable spreading of the alleged disinformation “more freely” in the future.

For us, it is important that funding is transparent. If it is transparent, the amount of disinformation in the country will decrease. If there is ambiguity in funding, such disinformation will be spread more freely in the future”, he told a press briefing held at the ruling party’s office.

The comments come in the wake of the recently adopted domestic law on transparency of foreign influence, requiring registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

When asked about findings of an inquiry issued by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project regarding the property of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Honorary Chair and founder of the Georgian Dream party, Kobakhidze said the report was “pure falsehood” and added groups that “put out such information within journalistic investigation” were “politically biased”.

The OCCRP last week published an article about Ivanishvili and his spouse Ekaterine Khvedelidze, claiming the latter had “continued to expand her personal holdings in Russia, making a new acquisition as recently as this year”.

You know that this is not the first time false information is being disseminated by these organisations. The most interesting thing is their motivation and who is bankrolling all of this. Such disinformation serves political purposes. In fact, these organisations are some of the main sources of disinformation and polarisation in our country, and it is alarming that they receive funding from Western sources, among others”, the PM added.

The Georgian Dream party press office last week released a statement in reference to the information disclosed about Ivanishvili by the OCCRP, insisting the party official and his family members had “neither bought any property in Russia nor travelled” to the country since 1998.