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The Institute for Ethics and Economic
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Saakashvili asks
for American aid. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who is on
his first official visit to the Parliamentary committee concerned over corruption in customs
department. Parliamentary Committee on Tax and Revenue discussed
situation in the Georgian Customs Department. Chairman of the Committee David
Salaridze said that the observation of statistics proves existence of
“alarming level of corruption” in the Georgian Customs Department. Salaridze
said that “Alarming level of corruption in the Customs Department is the reason
of this statistic”. (Civil Georgia denied
tranche from World Bank.
Anti-graft council
member accuses regional governor of corruption During a news conference, a member of the
anticorruption council Givi Targamadze accused Kvemo Kartli governor Levan
Mamaladze of money laundering and called on the president to bring Mamaladze
to account. According to Targamadze, Mamaladze and his close relatives have
interests in businesses located in the Kvemo Kartli region. There are three
Georgian shareholders on the Australian side of the Madneuli joint-stock
company: Gizo Tabatadze, director of Quartzite Ltd, Eka Rekhviashvili,
daughter of one of the Quartzite directors and Mamaladze´s relative, and
Roland Nikolaishvili, uncle of Mamaladze’s mother. Targamadze also presented
documentation on bank transfers effected by Quartzite Ltd., and Madneuli Ltd.
to various organisations’ accounts, which show that about 30,000 lari was
transferred to Kvemo Kartli’s TV-4 at the time it was not functioning. Money
was also transferred to finance Mamaladze’s business trips. Targamadze also
said that Mamaladze made transfers to launder money. Targamadze also said
that Mirian Gogiashvili, chairman of the anticorruption council, is not
familiar with the documents on Mamaladze’s activities. Targamadze hopes that
Gogiashvili will assist him in taking the issue to a government session and
in requesting the president to bring Mamaladze to account. Furthermore,
Targamadze said that, in his opinion, the institution of governors must be
abolished, as it is a source of corruption. (BBC Monitoring Service
(Kavkasia-Press News Agency),
CORRUPT AND VIOLENT, Once one of the wealthiest
CORRUPTION FEARS OVER GEORGIAN TV RAID. State security agents in Georgia have raided the offices of Rustavi-2. Rustavi-2 is the main private television news company in Georgia. It is known for criticizing President Eduard Shevardnadze and for alleging corruption by the authorities. President Shevardnadze has already ordered an investigation into the legitimacy of the raid, while the Georgian Security Minister, Vakhtang Kutateladze, resigned over the incident. According to staff at the station, the agents had a court order to examine the company's financial books. Nevertheless, the management of the station said that a recent inspection of the company's financial affairs had revealed no irregularities. The management also accused the government of exerting open political pressure. According to director general Nika Tabatadze, "this all is clearly happening on a political order from the authorities." (Source: BBC, October 31, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
PRESIDENT SHEVARDNADZE TURNS HIS BACK ON CORRUPTION AND CHRONIC ECONOMIC PROBLEMS. President Eduard Shevardnadze, head of the ruling Citizen’s Union of Georgia (CUG), has indicated that he does not want to have anything much to do with the progressive wing of his party. The CUG is a mix of reformers led by parliamentary chairman Zurab Zhvania at one end and arch conservatives like minister of interior, Kakha Targanadze and minister of state security, Vakhtang on the other, who are facing charges of bribery and human rights violations. The ambitious reformers led by Zhvania were responsible for making the party prestigious in Georgia and the world- over when the party was formed in 1998, as they sought to aggressively address the widespread corruption and the problems afflicting the economy. The President also seemed to yield to their pressure for decisive action and proposed radical changes in the cabinet and its authority. However subsequently, the reformers have been suppressed with limited executive powers, as the President remained supportive of the conservatives, who felt threatened. The reformists have hence been opting out of the cabinet leaving the conservatives incharge, leading to widespread apprehensions that Georgia is after all not serious on reforms and the voters’ support for Government policy reached an all- time low indicating public discontent. With the imminent split of the CUG, two main entities, the ‘reformists’ and the ‘conservatives’, are likely to emerge, with each scrambling for the support of the United Opposition members who also, incidentally, split up recently. (Institute for Peace and War, September 25, 2001, summary by Aruna Balakrishnan).
GEORGIA MOURNS MURDERED JOURNALIST Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian President, has urged the prosecutor general, together with the Ministers of the Interior and State Security to forward their investigation of the recent murder of popular journalist, Giorgi Sanaia. Sanaia was noted for leading the uncompromising interviews and corruption stories on Rustavi 2 channel’s incisive news talk show. Most Georgians believe the crime was politically motivated and editors, journalists and NGO representatives have demanded the dismissal of Kakha Targamadze, Interior Minister. Shevardnadze has requested assistance from the FBI in the murder investigation, with the aim of stemming the distrust of government and the chaos of civil conflict. Opposition parties stated the murder is a direct consequence of rule by principles of lawlessness and impunity. (The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, July 31, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
CORRUPTION SEEN AS THE ‘NORM’ Few people believe Eduard Shevardnadze’s claim to commitment to tackling the problem of corruption and state criminality as despite massive international financial aid, he has failed to bring democracy and market reforms to his country. The average national monthly income is less than $20, citizens suffer in cold and darkness due to energy shortages, and up to one quarter of the population is unemployed. Ghia Nodia, Chairman of the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Democracy, and Development stated the six reforms required to fight corruption were: liberalization of the economy, better budget management, law enforcement agency reform, effective management of state institutions, stem political corruption while developing a pluralistic democracy, and education reform. Shevardnadze plans to implement this program via a twelve-member coordination council headed by Mirian Gogiashvili, a former World Bank official; about thirty assistants will report daily to the Council on progress in the anti-corruption program. Critics suggest Shevardnadze’s public commitment to reform is just a way to secure Western funding, as true reforms would lead to accusations against himself and his entourage. (RFE/RL, May 10, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
TASHKENT - Some
$900,000 donated by a private Japanese citizen to be used to meet part of the
estimated $4 million cost of conducting next year's Georgian general census
has vanished without trace, Caucasus Press reported on 10 October, quoting
State Statistics Department Deputy Chairman Joseph Archvadze. (RFE/RF
Newsline, October 12,2000. Literal Transcription). TBILISI, GEORGIAN
PRESIDENT GIVEN PLAN ON FIGHTING CORRUPTION. A commission of experts was
formed in Georgia after it’s President, Eduard Shevardnadze issued a warning
that corruption threatened Georgia’s continued existence as a state. The commission of experts gave President
Shevardnadze a plan with concrete steps to fight corruption. (Dow Jones
Newswires, September 20, 2000, summary by Maritza Rosado). “The Corruption Research Centre” is a
Non-governmental organization supported by UNDP. For information write to: crc@iberiapac.ge The Index of Economic Freedom (by Driscoll-Holmes-Kirkpatrick) for 2001 places Georgia in the “Mostly Unfree” category with a rank of 115 (Ranks range from 1 for Hong Kong to 155 for North Korea, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1, 2000). H. D. Vinod’s trimmed correlation analysis indicates that countries free from economic regulation are less corrupt. After allowing for some exceptions by 20% trimming, the correlation is near 0.9. |
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Design:
Theo den Brinker |
Copyright:
Hrishikesh D. Vinod 2000 |
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