Page 68 - bne Magazine Apri20

68 Opinion
bne April 2020
institution has always been beneficial to our customers, but it is especially important amid the Covid-19 situation. A person can apply for a credit card online and our representative delivers it to any location wearing a mask and carrying sanitizing gel.”
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg, and there is so much more worth attention both on with regards to ESG in Russia in times of crisis. Still, these cases underline a strong
COLCHIS:
The Ghost of National Movements Past
The Eurasia Democratic Security Network
Vano Merabishvili was surprisingly energetic when he emerged from prison in February. The 51-year-old had been behind bars since 2013, put away for abuses of power allegedly committed between 2004 and 2012. Georgia’s former minister of interior and prime minister, he looked pale and had dark circles around his eyes. Nonetheless, he radiated defiance, declaring the intention to “keep fighting in order to remove this regime [the ruling Georgian Dream government] this year.”
Despite his apparent vigour, Merabishvili is something of
a ghost. Georgia's former “top cop” and the architect of some of the country’s most important reforms, he remains intensely loved by some and deeply reviled by others. His release was another reminder of how the National Movement era still hangs over Georgian society, and of the gap that still separates supporters of Georgia’s previous government from those that carry bitter memories about its abuses.
Revolutionary Zeal
From the outside, one can sympathize with both sides of this divide. After sweeping into power in 2003 in the bloodless Rose Revolution, the National Movement leveraged American and European support to swiftly build a functioning state. In less than three years, Georgia went from basket-case to poster child, eliminating petty bribery, attracting foreign direct investment, and putting Georgia on a path toward deeper integration with Nato and the European Union.
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commitment to social responsibility among Russia’s business leaders. It took a pandemic to bring the “S” in ESG, the so-called ugly duckling of investing, to the forefront of this crisis. While unremarkable at first glance, social policies can have a great impact on companies’ resilience and sustainable growth. Corporates that rely on their values are quick to react. They will weather this storm and become more attractive to investors tomorrow.
Former prime minister and ex minister of the interior Vano Merabishvili was arrested for corruption. Now he is out of jail he wants to re-enter politics.
Merabishvili is rightly credited with these successes. Under his stern leadership, Georgia’s police agencies went from professional bribe taking rackets to functioning crime fighting outfits. These reforms took courage. In 2004, the then-Interior Minister fired 16,000 police officers during an anti-corruption campaign. The reforms paid off. Law enforcement became one of Georgia’s most respected institutions under Merabishvili’s leadership.
Police reform, and the man who spearheaded it, became a symbol of success for the National Movement. It also came
to symbolize its abuses. By late 2006, most of the signature reforms were in place. While the country’s leaders devoted foreign policy to deepening their integration with NATO and the EU, they turned their internal focus to maintaining power over the system they created. For the National Movement, democracy wasn’t the point. Its real concern was building state institutions that could enable a market economy to flourish, and that could propel Georgia into those western institutions. If the public supported that agenda, all the better. If and when public support dried up, the National Movement was willing to resort to coercive methods.
Having built an effective state apparatus, the National Movement wielded that apparatus against its enemies, with Merabishvili landing some of the biggest blows. He is widely blamed for high-profile incidents of police brutality occurring in 2006 and 2007. The first, the infamous “Girgvliani Case,” involved the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Sandro