Gegidze connects his summoning with political activity
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, August 21
Bidzina Gegidze, a Georgian Dream MP, linked his summoning at the State Security Service to political activity. MP announced this at a special briefing.
He stated that summoning to an anti-corruption agency relates to his previous job, the “Georgian Post”, where he was holding the position of the deputy director in 2014-16. According to MP he had specific responsibilities and was doing his work within competencies.
Since then he has become politically active. He became a majoritarian MP in Vake district and later a member of the political council of the Georgian Dream party. Gegidze also noted that he has always made decisions on the most critical topics based on his principles and the degree of his freedom.
The investigation, study or inquiry began in the summer of 2018 when, as MP says, he was quite active and had critical views, positions, and arguments on political processes. “At the same time, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, my friend, resigned in mid-June and the investigation began on August 2, according to the State Security Service. Therefore, no matter who to differentiate between political and the legal side, there is a political factor here, as I am in politics.” – stated Gegidze. He finds it logical that this process that started by the Anti-Corruption Agency in the summer of 2018 was linked to his political activity and that the topic of his previous service was searched to justify everything in a legal context.
According to the State Security Service, Gegidze was summoned as a witness and the case was related to his previous work. The process of questioning lasted for 7 hours and the main subject was selling property owned by the Georgian Post via auction. In particular, it referred to the optimization of the infrastructure of the company and relevant processes. Gegidze believes that none of the employees of Georgia Post could influence the auction process.
As MP said he will go back to since he hasn’t signed the protocol of questioning – he explained, that he wants to modify the answers to formulate his opinion more clearly and correctly.
Asked by reporters whether Bidzina Gegidze was summoned to the PS by Giorgi Kvirikashvili, as Gegidze himself claims, Archil Talakvadze, speaker of the parliament said: “There might be some thoughts on the team that one year before the election, he wants to move on to another political team and, as is the case in politics, a political reason is needed. However, the letter and questions sent by the Security Service cannot be a serious political reason for Mr. Gegidze's decision.” He also stressed out that Gegidze has never had any problems when discussing various topics among the team. Talakvadze says that they (ruling party) will wait for Gegidze and then make relevant assessments.
It’s noteworthy, that lawmaker Gegidze commented on the possibility of leaving the majority. This is connected with the list of candidates for the Supreme Court of Justice that he is going to study in upcoming time and, if it doesn’t deserve his support, he’ll leave majority.
“When the subject of the court started, I immediately said that the main thing for me was the result. The first list was unacceptable, and now the process that I have watched has not given me the optimism to put my trust in that list… The judiciary is the main institution of the state, which should be nourished with the trust of our citizens and not for any other specific purpose,” announced Gegidze.
