Georgia’s ruling party official says Garibashvili’s public letter sought to politicise corruption charges

Levan Machavariani, the First Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party parliamentary faction, on Monday said it was “logical” to link imprisoned former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s public letter to the corruption-related allegations against him, adding that he had sought to “artificially politicise” the issue.

Machavariani’s comments came after Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office on Monday charged Garibashvili with accepting an especially large bribe as part of a group acting under a prior agreement.

“It is logical to link Mr. Garibashvili’s letter to these [corruption-related] allegations. He was trying to artificially politicise the issue, given that he knew about the specific charges. Logic dictates that he wanted to protect himself from all of this”, Machavariani said.

“We have demonstrated through our actions that it makes no difference to us whether a person is a high-ranking official or not, or whether they are a member of our current team or a former member. We take the same approach toward everyone - we will not tolerate corruption from anyone”, he concluded.