Garibashvili’s arrest has no connection whatsoever, even formally, to the fight against corruption - it has nothing to do with the rule of law either, said one of the leaders of Lelo – Strong Georgia, Salome Samadashvili, on PalitraNews’ program 360 Degrees.­

According to Salome Samadashvili, there is no transparency in this case, because “we do not even know how much money these people have actually stolen.”

“Eliminating corruption is extremely important for our citizens, because where there is corruption, there is no economic growth, there is poverty, and so on. Garibashvili’s arrest has no connection whatsoever, even formally, to the fight against corruption. Corruption is the abuse of office for personal enrichment, entering into corrupt deals - I have not seen such [charges]. In the end, we do not even know how much money he stole, if he stole any at all, or how and through what means he stole it, or whether the punishment is proportionate. None of this has anything to do with the rule of law. When you do not have an independent institution in the country that should serve the public interest, it is independent in no one’s case - whether opposition politicians or representatives of any clan within the branches of government,” Salome Samadashvili stated.

Salome Samadashvili also spoke on the program about the situation on the opposition flank, noting that the opposition has made serious mistakes and that today there is no center of political gravity where a real political process is taking place.

“It is my personal opinion that digging into the past - who said what and who made which mistake - is pointless. Ultimately, there is no political force in the political spectrum that can claim the role of leader. For a simple reason: the only time party support was measured - and even then in rigged elections - different opposition groups had more or less equal levels of support.

Look at the political spectrum: today there is no center of political gravity where a real political process is taking place. We offered people what we believed was right and rational, including confronting Ivanishvili’s regime in Tbilisi through a non-partisan alliance. Even if we assume for a moment that Tbilisi had an opposition mayor today, would the political spectrum be stronger or weaker? I think it would be stronger. We have our vision and our proposals. I cannot follow someone into madness and an absolutely doomed mindset. I believe that Lelo has a principled and rational approach. If others have alternative proposals, we are ready for consultations. Has anyone put proposals on the table and we said we would not discuss them? I am interested in political ideas, and if anyone has one, let them present it to us,” Salome Samadashvili said.