Parliament official claims domestic radicals seeking to mislead public regarding American FARA law

David Matikashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party and Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules, on Thursday said spreading disinformation especially regarding the foreign agents registration act and the law on transparency of foreign influence by domestic radicals and the efforts to mislead the public were not happening for the first time.

Matikashvili’s response followed the accusations of wealthy non-governmental organisations that the Anti-Corruption Bureau was asking for personal data from beneficiaries of non-governmental organisations.

“This is not the first time that radicals and those associated with them are trying to provide disinformation to the public, especially regarding the [American] FARA law, the [domestic] transparency law, they are trying to mislead the public again. We remember the campaign that was waged around [Anti-Corruption Bureau] even in connection with the previous law. Even today, when this law comes into force and they will have to make specific decisions - whether to obey the law or not, they are trying to mislead the public with some lies. The head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau gave an appropriate response to all these lies”, Matikashvili said.

He further noted that the Anti-Corruption Bureau was the legislative space that required only one thing - establishing transparency and submitting appropriate information to the relevant service, which in his opinion was not difficult for those who conscientiously perform their duties.