NGO Claims Energy Ministry Violated the Law

Non-Governmental Organization, the Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association (GYLA) says that Georgia’s Energy Ministry violated the law.

The GYLA released a statement on January 26, which says that on January 18, they officially appealed to the Ministry of Energy with a request they provide information about the talks with Russia’s energy giant Gazprom. However, the has yet to be met.

GYLA’s statement says that they requested the following documentation:

• A copy of the previous agreement with Gazprom, which expired on December 31, 2016.

• Copies of all documents concerning the negotiations with Gazprom launched from January 1.

• A copy of the new agreement with Gazprom, which will be signed by all sides.

Moreover, if the requested information and documents were secret, the GYLA asked the Ministry to provide them with copies of documents proving the deal was truly confidential.

“In response to the appeal of the Young Lawyers Association, on 25 January we were notified by the Ministry of Energy that the requested information and documents were not protected at the Ministry and therefore could not be provided to us,” the statement of the NGO reads.

The GYLA says that the Ministry violated the law when they did not send the GYLA’s request to the administrative authority responsible for the requested information. And in case such authority was not found, the Ministry of Energy should have returned the statement to the GYLA with proper reasoning.

“The action of the Ministry makes the grounds for confidentiality of the Gazprom agreement more obscure. This reinforces the suspicion that the Ministry is avoiding issuing information, even though it is obliged to do so by legislation,” says the GYLA statement.

The new deal with Gazprom was reached on January 12 and means that Georgia, as a transit country for the transportation of Russian gas to Armenia, will from 2018 receive payment from Gazprom.

Under the previous agreement, which expired on December 31, 2016, Russia has been paying Georgia for gas transportation by supplying natural gas to the amount of 10% of the volume of transported gas.

The NGOs, the opposition and the president have said many times that the deal is “unprofitable for Georgia’s economy and endangers the country’s energy independence.” They also call on the authorities to disclose the agreement details and hold a special parliamentary hearing over the issue.

Thea Morrison