Speaker: We will uncover who funds Transparency International and expose nation or group conducting hybrid war against Georgia

“Transparency International, which is registered in Estonia, is attempting to manipulate certain figures. This demonstrates once again that whoever is funding Transparency International is actively waging a hybrid war against Georgia,” the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, stated in response to a journalist’s question.

Specifically, Papuashvili was asked: “According to a study published by Transparency International Georgia, over a period of eight months, public officials who are required to file asset declarations received, in total, more than 24 million [GEL] in gifts from family members, predominantly from parents. How is it that everyone’s family has turned out to be so wealthy?”

According to Papuashvili’s assessment, declared income cannot, by definition, be considered illegal.

“It is being funded through European foundations, secretly, it seems, since they say nothing about it publicly. This is precisely the kind of coordinated disinformation that is being spread, in this instance targeting state institutions and public officials. Sooner or later, it will come to light who is currently funding Transparency International. Of course, at that moment, we will absolutely expose which country or organisation was the one conducting a hybrid war against Georgia.

As for this manipulation, there are tens of thousands of public officials. It is an absolute manipulation and a farce to aggregate these figures to show that a spouse gifted something to a spouse, or a child to a parent, or a parent to a child, and then present it as some total. This proves only one thing: that Transparency International is a tool of hybrid warfare against Georgia.

They are talking about declared gifts. How can one speak of ‘money laundering’ when it has been officially declared? If there were any illegal income, no one would declare it in the first place. Since it is listed in the declaration, how could it possibly be illegal income? A person is hardly going to expose themselves. Therefore, the whole claim is absurd,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.