Gia Volski: Garibashvili may be chasing revolutionary dividends to escape corruption charges

“The objective behind Irakli Garibashvili’s public statements is to shield himself while inflicting maximum damage on the Georgian Dream government,” First Vice-Speaker of Parliament Gia Volski has asserted.

“There are likely two motives behind this: first, to protect himself by taking refuge under a political umbrella; second, to cause maximum harm to the government whose leader he once was, but which has today exposed him as a criminal. A person has taken their own life – this is confirmed and deeply tragic – but it cannot be linked to these circumstances. Exploiting and raising these matters causes profound regret; at the same time, it carries zero weight, serves no propaganda value, and holds no validity in any legal context whatsoever,” Volski noted.

Volski added that external actors may mislead Garibashvili.

“Perhaps someone is promising him that if he continues his fight in this direction, it will help fuel a revolutionary process in the country, from which he might extract dividends, gaining his freedom and causing people to forget the crimes he actually committed. I allow for the possibility that someone convinced him this path could be strategically justified. Perhaps a ‘clever individual’, even his lawyer or adviser, offered him this line of thought: ‘Confront them, join the revolutionary process with these statements, manufacture a dark conspiracy picture claiming someone hanged themselves and crimes are being committed,’ as if he himself had done nothing wrong.

Presumably, someone told him that instead of explaining where, why, and how he acquired such wealth, he should go on the offensive. Perhaps this strategy took shape in his mind. He is fighting using the exact tactics of the collective United National Movement. Garibashvili was no stranger to Bidzina Ivanishvili; I met him through Ivanishvili myself back in 2011. I believe all of this is emotionally hardest on Bidzina Ivanishvili, more than on any of the rest of us. Garibashvili wants to align himself with the trend driving the opposition towards revolution, hoping to contribute to it so that, in the aftermath, he might reap some dividend,” Gia Volski stated.

The Vice-Speaker further detailed that Irakli Garibashvili had accumulated substantial financial assets through illicit means.

“Footage was captured of the hidden assets, ranging from gold bullion to luxury watches; he had amassed serious financial resources illegally. He confessed to this himself; regrettably, human empathy exists, and his team suffered reputational damage as a result, but we must all remain morally upright. It is unfortunate, but what he confessed to constitutes a major crime. It is absurd and a feeble propaganda effort to claim that all of this is driven by Inashvili and Chubinidze pursuing particular policies. Naturally, the reality is painful—I feel it, as does our whole team—but the notion that all of this is happening simply to prevent Irakli Garibashvili from returning to politics is pure absurdity,” Gia Volski declared regarding Irakli Garibashvili’s latest letter.