Tbilisi: Irakli Kobakhidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia once again underlined the role of transparency in foreign funding. The PM strongly advocated the foreign agents law adopted some months ago despite the president’s veto.
As per PM, any “ambiguity in funding” will only cause disinformation. Moreover if steps are not taken this disinformation will spread more freely in the future. During a press conference at the office of Georgian Dream, the PM further stated “For our government it is very important to bring maximum transparency in the process of receiving funding from foreign countries. If transparency is not ensured this will support the disinformation campaign in the future, resulting in insult to the country.”
The Prime Minister’s comment also became significant when Meta ordered the removal of almost 100 Facebook and Instagram pages. These pages which have origin in Russia were aimed at supporting the ruling party’s foreign agents law and targeting protestors.
On the findings of an inquiry issued by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project against the honorary chair and founder of the Georgian Dream party were PM said “This is totally a false narrative created to defame the ruling regime. The findings of the reports are totally politically motivated to gain undue favour in the forthcoming election of Parliament in October.”
According to an OCCRP report published last week, Ivanishvili and his wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze allegedly still own large real estate properties in Russia. The PM stressed that “ everyone knows false information is being disseminated by some organization for political purposes. This is why the foreign agent law is essential. The source of funding of these organizations is Western countries so we need transparency in foreign funding with the adoption of the foreign agent’s law in its letter and spirit.
On the other hand by issuing an official statement the Georgian Dream party also denied any allegation of its founder’s real estate ownership in Russia. The statement also termed the finding of the report suspicious without any solid proof.
