Georgia’s State Audit Office Orders Fines for 6 Parties

TBILISI- Georgia’s State Audit Office has ordered that six of the country’s political parties be fined for campaign violations.

Chief Auditor Lasha Tordia and Financial Monitoring Service Head Zurab Aznaurashvili claim the opposition party Patriots Alliance received 183,200 GEL in donations from three people, which exceeds the 60,000 GEL donation limit that a party can receive from a single person.

The order also said that Paata Burchuladze’s State for the People party also received illegal donations from four people who could not prove to the Internal Revenue Service that they had enough income to justify the 19,000 GEL that had been donated by each.

Political parties Our Homeland, State Party and Georgian Idea as well as independent candidate Tamar Iarajuli, were also listed as having broken the nation's campaign laws by failing to produce records of their expenditures and revenue.

Tordia recommended that each party should be fined by 2,000 GEL for the violations. As a single independent candidate, Iarajuli will be given 1,000 GEL fine.

Georgian Dream regional chair Rima Beridze was also accused by the chief auditor of fraud, claiming she attempted to buy votes when she offered a free medical examination to 40 teachers that was financed by the party’s own Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Georgian Dream-Healthy Georgia.

State Audit Office demanded that a district court fine both Beradze and the NGO 800,000 GEL.

Beradze denies the charges, saying the NGO’s work is not connected to the ongoing campaign.

“I am a deputy from the Chugureti region and it is my duty to take care of locals. I am innocent,” Beradze said.

Burchuladze's opposition party State for people  accused the State Audit Office of trying to intimidate their party.

“The goal is to discourage supporters and suppress the vote during campaign season", said David Jandieri, a chief advisor to Burchuladze.

The Audit Office also accused Levan Varshalomidze, from main the main opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, of trying to buy votes in his voting district in Batumi by promising underprivileged locals free apartments if Varshalomidze is elected.

Chief Auditor Tordia said Varshalomidze’s case would be forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office for a further investigation.

By Thea Morrison and Nicholas Waller