Numerous Non-Governmental Organizations published joint letter regarding the statements made by the founder of TBC Bank, Mamuka Khazaradze at the Budget and Finance Committee Hearing.
At the hearing of Budget and Finance Committee on May 5 Khazaradze pointed out that he had received a letter containing threats from Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia.
NGOs are calling upon the Parliament of Georgia to create an investigative commission and shared an official statement in regards to this issue. The statement identifies several important problems, including the fact that Khazaradze received the letter containing threats from Interior Minister, Giorgi Gakharia and the fact that President of National Bank of Georgia Koba Gvenetadze was blackmailing TBC Bank Founder.
According to NGOs, this is not the first time businessmen are talking about the pressure from the side of the government.
“If we discuss Khazaradze’s statement in a wider context, then it strengthens our alertness in regards to the tendency of informal governance”, reads the statement.
The statement also emphasizes that such tendency is not in line with the principles of democratic governance and it ‘causes many dangers to the constitutional order’.
Aside from the demand on creating the investigative commission, NGOs are also calling upon Mamuka Khazaradze to publicize the letter which he talked about during his speech.
The statement is signed by organizations like Transparency International (TI) Georgia, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), Open Society Georgia Foundation, Georgian Democracy Initiative, Article 42 of the Constitution, Center for Investigative Journalism and Economic Analysis, Georgian Farmers’ Association, Georgian Institute of Politics, Georgia Reforms Association (GRASS), Regional Center for Strategic Studies, Green Alternative, Society and Banks, World Experience for Georgia, Atlantic Council of Georgia, Economic Policy Research Center, Liberal Academy Tbilisi and Media Development Foundation.
