High-level corruption in the country is taking the form of “kleptocracy,” where state officials use political power to appropriate the country’s wealth, according to a statement released by the non-governmental organization Transparency International – Georgia.

According to the organization, the bodies responsible for combating corruption in Georgia (the General Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service) fail to respond effectively to alleged cases of high-level corruption, particularly when individuals close to the ruling party are involved.

Transparency International – Georgia continues to systematically collect information on possible high-level corruption violations that have come to light in recent years. “Our goal is to create a periodically updated catalog of alleged high-level corruption cases, which will allow us to monitor these violations and assess the scale of high-level corruption.”

The current situation regarding corruption in Georgia is characterized by an impressively low level of petty corruption on one hand, and almost complete impunity for high-level corruption on the other. Unfortunately, corruption in Georgia has taken an extreme form of “state capture.”

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), “the influence of the ruling party’s founder on key institutions fits the definition of state capture.” Furthermore, the nature, scale, number, and growing trend of alleged high-level corruption cases provide grounds to conclude that high-level corruption in the country is taking the form of “kleptocracy,” where state officials use political power to appropriate the country’s wealth.

The bodies responsible for combating corruption in Georgia (the General Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service) fail to respond effectively to alleged cases of high-level corruption, especially when individuals close to the ruling party are involved. Cases periodically submitted by Transparency International – Georgia remain unaddressed, despite the fact that, under Georgian law, investigators and prosecutors are obliged to initiate an investigation upon receiving information about a crime.

In line with the best international practices, effective anti-corruption efforts require the initiation of investigations into all alleged cases of high-level corruption or the public availability of reasoned decisions not to initiate investigations. In contrast, the State Security Service and the Prosecutor’s Office neither proactively publish this information nor provide it in response to public information requests.

For the purposes of this list, a high-ranking official is considered a “politically exposed person” as defined under Article 21 of Georgia’s Law on Facilitating the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. In accordance with international best practices and the OECD/ACN monitoring guidelines, this definition has been expanded to include prosecutors at all levels (including members of the Prosecutorial Council), state trustees, and heads of their administrations. Additionally, to reflect the scale of corruption cases at the municipal level, for the purposes of this list, “high-ranking officials” also include mayors, chairpersons of municipal councils, and their deputies.

Transparency International has published a list of alleged corruption cases.