Georgian PM: corruption has been fully eliminated at highest levels of government

Georgian Prime Minister Iraki Kobakhidze on Thursday said that corruption had been fully eradicated at the highest levels of government, challenging the government’s opponents to present even a single case of corruption involving a minister and pledging an immediate response to any such allegation.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that after the party congress, where Bidzina Ivanishvili made a relevant statement regarding corruption risks, he assumed the position of Prime Minister approximately one month later, and from that point it took his team one year and five months to fully examine everything and reorganise the situation within the team.

“Today, we can confidently say that corruption has been fully eradicated at the highest levels of government. At lower levels, the fight against corruption must always continue, as this is a persistent problem in every country. But we can confidently say that corruption has been fully eradicated at the highest levels of government, and we often tell our opponents: bring forward even one case of corruption involving any minister, and we promise that there will be an immediate response. However, they have not been able to produce a single such case to date”, Kobakhidze continued.

He further highlighted that even after he was appointed Prime Minister, it took his team one year and five months to examine the situation and then reorganise the system.

“Even from the position of Prime Minister, dealing with corruption is not easy. We examined the situation, reorganised the system, and it took us one year and five months. Today, we stand by the following: take any minister, the government or the Prime Minister, identify one case of corruption, and there will be an immediate response. They have not been able to produce a single such case since our system was reorganised”, the Prime Minister concluded.