According to the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Razhden Kuprashvili, representatives of some organizations are deliberately spreading false information, as if the Bureau is requesting personal and professional information of citizens without a court decision.

Kuprashvili emphasized that the bure Bureau au operates only within the framework of the mandate granted by the legislation of Georgia and its main priority is to ensure the rule of law.

According to him, the documentation requested by the Bureau is aimed only at studying the purposefulness of the activities of organizations and does not go beyond the framework established by law. Kuprashvili also states that the bureau ensures the protection of both professional and personal data.

“The Anti-Corruption Bureau, within the framework of its mandate, monitors the financial activities of political associations of citizens, electoral subjects and persons with declared electoral goals and takes appropriate measures to implement the Law of Georgia - FARA. We also monitor the issuance and receipt of grants without consent, as well as their use.

In the process of ensuring the rule of law and enforcement, the Bureau is authorized to request the necessary financial and legal documentation. During the day, representatives of several organizations have been deliberately spreading incorrect information, as if the Bureau, based on a court order, is unreasonably requesting documentation reflecting the personal and professional secrets of citizens from their organizations,” Kuprashvili said.

Kuprashvili also confirmed that the Bureau will continue to identify organizations that engage in undeclared political activities and are financed from non-transparent sources.

“I would like to provide the public with complete information regarding the above. First of all, we declare that the rule of law and its enforcement are the Bureau’s top priority. The legal and financial documentation requested by us does not exceed the scope of legislative authority and is aimed only at examining the purpose of grants or the activities of an organization with political activity. In this process, the protection of professional or personal information will be fully ensured in accordance with Georgian legislation. We believe that the disinformation campaign serves to mislead the population and aims to discredit the legislation and legal process aimed at transparency. Transparency of political processes is one of the Bureau’s top priorities, and our work will continue to be aimed at identifying organizations whose activities do not correspond to their declared goals and which secretly engage in political activities. Our goal is for the population of Georgia to have complete information about the functioning of political actors, so that the public has the opportunity to make an informed choice.

We also confirm that the Bureau’s activities are open. Any interested person can contact us for cooperation. An example of this was the information campaign that the Bureau conducted both in connection with the implementation of new laws and in connection with the Bureau’s activities. Since the disinformation campaign goes beyond the borders of Georgia and aims to spread incorrect information in authoritarian international institutions, "from now on, the Bureau will continue to have direct communication with all these international organizations, including accredited representatives of the diplomatic corps, and we will provide them with information regarding this legal process directly so as not to discredit the process," Kuprashvili said.