Bidzina Ivanishvili is not exempted from declaring his assets by law - this is how Transparency International Georgia responds to the statement released by Georgian Dream, in which the ruling party says that the Honorary Chairman of the Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, was not obliged to submit a declaration, since his term in office did not exceed 2 months.
As stated in the information released by the organization, the exemption from the obligation to file a declaration applies only to cases where a person temporarily performs an official function in the same public institution for a period of less than 2 months, that is, there is a temporary internal replacement for the position. This exception does not apply to cases where a person is appointed or elected to a completely new position, even for a short period.
“We would like to respond to the statement of the Georgian Dream regarding the legal obligation of Bidzina Ivanishvili to file an asset declaration. First of all, the Georgian Dream admits that Bidzina Ivanishvili is hiding information about his property and finances from the Georgian people. The Georgian Dream is trying to convince citizens why Ivanishvili’s property should be hidden from the people and why he should be above the law.
The Georgian Dream claims that the exemption that applies to temporary acting officials applies to Ivanishvili as well. Bidzina Ivanishvili was never a temporary acting official, he was an elected Member of Parliament, whose mandate was terminated by the Parliament after he voluntarily relinquished it in December 2024. Therefore, this exemption does not apply to him.
It is worth noting that the Georgian Dream contradicts itself, because the correct interpretation of the law was applied to Irakli Gharibashvili, who, in accordance with the law, filed an asset declaration as a former Member of Parliament after relinquishing his parliamentary mandate. Ivanishvili was in the exact same position.
The exemption from the obligation to file a declaration applies only to cases where a person temporarily performs an official function in the same public institution for a period of less than 2 months, that is, there is a temporary internal replacement for the position. This exception does not apply to cases where a person is appointed or elected to a completely new position, even for a short period.
Bidzina Ivanishvili’s position as Member of Parliament, even for a period of less than 2 months, is an elected position and not a temporary replacement in the same system; therefore, he is not exempt from the obligation to file a declaration.
We call on the head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Razhden Kuprashvili, to fulfill his legal obligation and demand that Bidzina Ivanishvili fill out an asset declaration, including by requesting information through the court”, reads the statement.
For information, Transparency International Georgia initially disseminated information that the asset declaration of Bidzina Ivanishvili, Honorary Chairman of the Georgian Dream, is not available on the declarations website. According to them, this obligation arose for Bidzina Ivanishvili due to his short term as an MP after the 2024 parliamentary elections. According to the organization, unlike Bidzina Ivanishvili, the declaration of Irakli Gharibashvili is available on the declarations website, who, like Ivanishvili, had the obligation to register his assets due to his short term as an MP.
Later, Georgian Dream responded to the organization with a statement and accused Transparency International Georgia of spreading disinformation. According to the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili filed his declaration as a candidate for parliamentary membership on October 4, 2024, but as a member of parliament, he was exempted from the obligation to submit a declaration, since the period of his tenure in office did not exceed 2 months. This circumstance, according to Georgian Dream, exempts a person from filing a declaration.
v-if="article.gallery" v-html="article.gallery"
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});