Study Shows Lack of Transparency in Georgia’s Wrestling Federation
The study of 2015-2018 expenditures and related corruption risks at the National Wrestling Federation of Georgia revealed such findings as inadequate financial documents, conflicts of interest, problems with the disposal of state assets and failure to fulfill official commitments.
The report was prepared by the non-governmental organization Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with the support of Luminate, a global philanthropic organization.
The NGO says that during recent months, the Georgian Wrestling Federation has repeatedly attracted public attention, with both wrestlers and persons working in the field speaking out publicly about alleged misuse of budget funds in the Federation and other forms of mismanagement.
The IDFI says their research was mainly made possible based on public information received from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport. However, the NGO claims the process of research was especially complicated by the fact that the National Wrestling Federation is a non-transparent entity, which ignores all official requests of the NGO.
“The lack of transparency increases the risks of corruption and inappropriate disposal of finances in the National Wrestling Federation,” the organization concluded.
The report also reads that the financial reports of the state wrestling program are not aligned with the budget execution reports issued by the Ministry, adding there is significant inconsistency between the amount of funds transferred by the Ministry, the amount spent by the Federation and the amount returned.
“The Ministry has not fully disclosed the financial reports of the Wrestling Federation. The latter is obligated to submit these reports to the Ministry. This suggests that either the Ministry does not wish to disclose certain information, or the Federation is failing to comply with its reporting obligations,” the IDFI says.
Further, the funds allocated for the administrative team of the National Wrestling Federation are distributed as bonuses based on uncertain procedures which significantly increase the risk of kickbacks.
The NGO underlines that the State Audit Office has not carried out an audit of the activities of the National Wrestling Federation, which weakens consistent financial oversight and increases the risk of corruption.
Moreover, inconsistencies found in the financial documentation of the National Wrestling Federation point to serious problems in the management of funds.
“The procedures for issuing bonuses to wrestlers or depriving bonuses from those who failed anti-doping tests are not properly regulated, which raises the risk of improper disposal of finances,” the report reads.
The survey also revealed that the Federation mainly cooperates with companies that are related to other sports federations, which raises questions about possible behind-the-scenes deals and conflicts of interest.
The Georgian Wrestling Federation receives annual funding from the state budget through the state sport program, given in the form of subsidies.
In addition, according to a 2014 government decree, the federation receives monetary prizes for showing good results at championships, which are often covered from the government reserve fund.
The highest bonus for showing good results in the 2018 European championship in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling was received by the financial advisor: GEL 12,980 ($4.474) out of GEL 63,580 ($21.916) total bonuses issued to the administration staff.
Although the bronze winning wrestler at the 2018 European championship was stripped of the medal for violation of anti-doping rules, three months later, a bonus of GEL 61,200 ($21096) was still issued to the athlete, his coach, medical and administrative staff for the already stripped medal.
In 2015-2018, approximately GEL 30 ($10.34) million was allocated to the National Wrestling Federation from the state sports program, as well as from the Government Reserve Fund.
The Federation spent GEL 12,517 ($4314) on the import of Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling uniforms from abroad, while GEL 8,276 ($2852) was spent on local transportation of the good from the Tbilisi customs zone to the Federation building.
The General Administrative Code of Georgia does not directly apply to sports federations. As a result, the Wrestling Federation is not obligated to disclose the requested public information, which reduces its financial transparency.
By Thea Morrison
Image source: Geo Wrestling