Page 13 - GEORptFeb21

The anti-corruption efforts of Georgian Dream more or less ceased after top officials of the previous regime, led by Ivanishvili’s main rival Mikhael Saakashvili—self-exiled in Ukraine and wanted back home on multiple criminal charges that he decries as politically motivated—were convicted. Former PM Ivane Merabishvili, a leading ally of Saakashvili, was in February 2014 found guilty of public corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison. That made him the most senior official yet to be convicted in a series of seemingly politically motivated prosecutions that followed the ascent of Georgian Dream. More than 10 other ministers and senior officials in Saakashvili’s former administration have faced similar prosecutions on an array of charges, something which supported the broad sentiment that anti-corruption moves per se were being pursued.
The stagnation period in anti-corruption efforts from 2016 to 2020 coincided with the second government of Georgian Dream.
“Georgia has not seen significant improvement in the ranking since 2012 when CPI scores became comparable year to year,” TI Georgia also commented.
In 2012, Georgia placed 51st on the world ranking with a score of 52 points; in 2020 it ranked 45th with 56 points. Nonetheless, Transparency’s statement is relevant in the sense that Georgia’s position has deteriorated since 2016 when it ranked 44th, the best position the small nation has ever achieved.
Concentrated power is undermining the government’s accountability, TI Georgia contends, stating: “Undue partisan influence over the law enforcement agencies has rendered them effectively incapable of investigating cases of possible high-level corruption. This has undermined the public’s trust in the law enforcement system: According to a 2020 survey, only 29% of Georgians believe that cases of high-level corruption are investigated properly in Georgia, while 47% think that they are not.
“Further, state capture has meant that the legislature and the judiciary do not properly exercise their oversight roles vis-a-vis the executive branch. Parliamentary oversight was especially limited during the state of emergency enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
TI Georgia says that for Georgia to regain its lost anti-corruption momentum, a number of decisive steps are needed. The government, it sums up, should start by “supporting the ​proposal​ to establish an independent, multi-role anti-corruption agency that would fill the current void in terms of the enforcement of the country’s anti-corruption laws.”
13​ GEORGIA Country Report​ February 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com