Following public outrage and widespread interest in the construction of “Arab cities” in Krtsanisi and Gonio, the government deliberately and secretly decided to classify the contract signed with Eagle Hills Georgia as a commercial secret. This means that 9 million square meters of Georgian land, owned by Georgian citizens, are being transferred without the government disclosing the details of the contract, “Lelo – Strong Georgia” member Tazo Datunashvili said during a briefing discussing the construction company Eagle Hills Georgia.

According to Datunashvili, what the government is doing amounts to an anti-state action.

“We read the excerpt: ‘According to Article 27, Paragraph 2 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia, the investment agreement and the shareholders’ agreement, along with their accompanying documents, shall be considered confidential.’ This so-called government order is signed by the so-called Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. This excerpt is from the government decree, which, immediately after public outrage over the construction of ‘Arab cities’ in Krtsanisi and Gonio, deliberately and secretly classified the contract with Eagle Hills Georgia as a commercial secret. Nine million square meters of land owned by Georgian citizens are being transferred to another party, and the government is not disclosing the contract details.

This is an anti-state action by the authorities. It is a complete legal absurdity! There is a very specific legal framework for what qualifies as a commercial secret. One key point is that commercial secrecy applies to issues where disclosure might compromise a project’s competitive advantage. Friends, this decree has effectively frozen the construction contract, labeling it a ‘commercial secret.’

We are not told what the construction contract entails – whether the concrete is magical or what is written that could supposedly cause Eagle Hills Georgia to lose a competitive advantage – this is unclear. Behind all this, there is a serious problem.

We demand that, in the interest of Georgian citizens and the state, information be disclosed about this transaction: that Georgian citizens are transferring 9 million square meters of land, worth $600 million, to a company, and that the company demonstrates the remaining 2/3 of the investment corresponding to its third share. This is the only correct course of action: to disclose this information and make it available so that the public knows what is really happening – whether it is a fraud, as we see it, or part of a real estate development scheme involving investments from the United Arab Emirates.

The company’s behavior raises doubts. We have thoroughly studied its operations in Serbia, Albania, and elsewhere. The Serbian example is particularly telling, where the state has effectively gained no benefits to date,” Datunashvili said.