I believe that corruption is a matter of national security for Georgia, especially elite corruption, especially when the companies of our unfriendly neighboring state are involved in corruption, Tina Khidasheli, chairperson of the organization Civic Idea, former Minister of Defense, said after meeting with US Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption Richard Nephew.

According to Khidasheli, the high-ranking American official was introduced to the cases identified by Civil Idea.

In addition, as Tina Khidasheli pointed out, today a new component is entering Georgia in the form of Chinese companies, and "Sinohydro's "case" is enough to demonstrate this".

"The meeting turned out to be very interesting and it is always important to have such type of meetings for the exchange of information. I believe that corruption is a national security issue for Georgia, especially elite corruption, especially when corruption involves companies and various people from our unfriendly neighboring state.

Today, a new component is entering Georgia in the form of Chinese companies, which also poses a very serious threat to the country's security. Therefore, of course, when we talk about corruption in Georgia, it is no longer just a matter of bribe-taking. The issues that are being discussed today are mainly about strategic corruption, when the security of the country is threatened and when corruption becomes a topic of national security. We are always trying to keep our partners informed as much as possible, because the Georgian state needs serious help - it is 2024, the election campaign will start soon, the government will start spending huge amounts of money from the state budget for party interests, for election tasks, and of course, this requires daily and minute-by-minute monitoring to avoid the worst consequences that will hit this country hard in the next 4 years”, said Tina Khidasheli.

According to her, another issue that was discussed at the meeting with the US Coordinator was related to the anti-corruption agency.

"We talked about the problems that followed the reform. The main two directions that should have been in reality - the independence of the agency and investigative authority, have not been achieved. The Venice Commission also pointed out this and a very clear and open note appeared in their assessment, and naturally we discussed this issue as well", said Tina Khidasheli.