Signs of possible corruption in City Hall tenders
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, August 5
Tbilisi City Hall has arranged a tender for the purchase of minibuses, the cost of which is GEL30 million, to one specific company, GT Group. This became known from the investigation prepared by the investigative journalist Giorgi Mgeladze for Radio Liberty.
Tbilisi City Hall initially announced a tender for 300 minibuses in April, but later canceled it due to a pandemic and re-announced it on July 15. According to the investigation, in both cases, Tbilisi City Hall adjusted the terms of the tender to one specific company.
At the first announcement of the tender, the conditions were designed in such a way that the requirements were met only by Ford minibuses, the dealer of which is GT Group in Georgia. Due to the conditions, the participation of other companies in the tender was practically excluded.
When announcing the tender for the second time, Tbilisi City Hall removed certain conditions, but added 10 years of experience in official dealerships in Georgia, which was also satisfied only by GT Group.
At this time, one of the companies wishing to participate in the tender has appealed the terms to the Disputes Board and is awaiting a decision. The founder and director of the company GT Group donated 160,000 to Georgian Dream and Salome Zurabishvili in 2016-2018.
It is noteworthy that the City Hall is actively cooperating with this company, the City Hall purchased garbage bins worth GEL2.8 million from this company, which were located on the newly rehabilitated Chavchavadze Avenue.
In the last 5 years, the company has signed tenders worth GEL5 million with the Tbilisi City Hall, including the introduction of ISUZU green buses by the same company.
