According to Vaso Urushadze, one of the leaders of the “United National Movement,” there is a cartel agreement and a corrupt deal between oil importing companies and the government in Georgia.

As Urushadze stated at today’s briefing, the goal is to rob Georgian citizens through the increased prices of petroleum products, gasoline, and diesel.

“On the international market, the price of petroleum products is decreasing. We see that at gas stations in Georgia the price remains unchanged, even as the price of petroleum products on the international market is falling. In Georgia, oil importing companies immediately raise the prices of both gasoline and diesel the very next day. However, when the opposite happens and the price of petroleum products decreases on the international market - the price of crude oil has also decreased by about 20% per barrel in the last month - we see that this is in no way reflected in the selling prices of oil importing companies, directly at gas stations in Georgia.

They explain this by saying they have reserves and cannot lower the price until those reserves are exhausted. This is a lie. Just as they raise prices instantly, they should also lower them instantly when prices fall. They are working for super-profits, robbing Georgian citizens every day, taking extra money out of their pockets to obtain super-profits.

The main question arises here: is this not a cartel agreement and corrupt deal with the government? Because the government is silent - there is not a single statement or question, including in the Parliament of Georgia, from the economic team, or from the Competition Agency. They are limited only to observation and superficial assessments. This is confirmation that there is a cartel agreement and a corrupt deal between oil importing companies and the government in Georgia, so that Georgian citizens are robbed specifically through the increased prices of petroleum products, gasoline, and diesel,” Vaso Urushadze stated.