Vice Speaker: Gvaramia distances himself from Ivanishvili’s support for Police and teachers, not from systemic crimes under UNM rule

It turns out that Nika Gvaramia distances himself from the claim that Bidzina Ivanishvili did not pay taxes, rather than from the systemic crimes committed while his party was in power, Giorgi Kakhiani, Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament and a member of the parliamentary majority, told journalists at the Constitutional Court.

Kakhiani said he had heard numerous absurd statements from Gvaramia during the proceedings.

“Several remarkable statements were made, but I will single out one. Gvaramia spoke about what he distances himself from. One might have expected him to say that he distances himself from the systemic human rights violations that took place under the United National Movement. But it turns out that this is not what he distances himself from. Instead, he distances himself from the claim that Bidzina Ivanishvili did not pay taxes and subsequently entered politics using that money. Ivanishvili had not acquired his wealth in Georgia and had devoted 80% of his assets to the country, contributing GEL 3.5 billion to charitable causes,” Kakhiani said.

“At a time when Georgia’s budget had been depleted, Bidzina Ivanishvili financed the salaries of police officers and teachers and did many other good things for our country. It turns out that Mr. Gvaramia distances himself from this, rather than from the systemic crimes committed while his party was in power,” Kakhiani said.

For context, Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Coalition for Change, spoke at the Constitutional Court about the actions of the previous government from which he distances himself.

“I distance myself from the fact that one particular person was never made to pay taxes and was allowed to accumulate hundreds of millions. I distance myself from the fact that this particular person was allowed to engage in so-called charity using money stolen from the state budget, which ultimately turned out to be a long-term election campaign. Incidentally, that person is Bidzina Ivanishvili,” Gvaramia said.