Nino Tsilosani: Georgians must know purpose of foreign funds; extra measures needed to prevent circumvention

“The motivation behind the adoption of the Law on Grants remains unchanged; the Georgian people must be informed about the funds received from abroad and their intended purpose,” stated Vice-Speaker of Parliament, Nino Tsilosani.

According to her, the law requires an additional mechanism to enhance the transparency of foreign funding.

“If we agree on this objective, it is of course our duty to refine the law. There have been numerous cases of circumvention, including threats that various methods would be employed to bypass the law to finance NGOs. I am uncertain why it was deemed necessary to circumvent the law or what activities they were intended to carry out. The possibility of circumventing the law has even extended to opening branches abroad. If we share this goal, then we must also agree that the law needs an additional mechanism to make foreign funding more transparent, because none of us truly knows what its ultimate aims are,” Tsilosani explained.