Foreign funds must be transparent, no place for “dark money” in politics, says Georgian Parliament official

Archil Gorduladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, on Thursday said funds coming from abroad must be fully transparent and there should be no place for “dark money” in politics, especially when it comes to foreign financial inflows.

Gorduladze’s comments came after the former senior US State Department official Mike Benz, in an interview with Liz Truss, commented on the issue, saying: “Now they claim that Europe needs some kind of transparency law, but 15 months ago, this class of EU bureaucrats was threatening Hungary and Georgia with sanctions for adopting such laws”.

Speaking to journalists, Gorduladze emphasized that political interference should be reduced to a minimum, noting that the European Union and European countries are also pursuing similar transparency measures.

“Funds flowing in from abroad should be transparent, there should be no place for dark money in politics, especially funds flowing in from abroad, and interference should be kept to a minimum. The European Union and European countries are trying to do this, which is welcome. We are doing this too”, Gorduladze said.

“Georgia is receiving inappropriate, baseless criticism, which is not ordinary criticism, this is an attack on the interests of the Georgian people and the sovereignty of the state. It is as if they are looking down on us, as if they have the right to protect their countries and peoples, while we are a small nation and we do not have such a right”, he concluded.