Prime Minister Kobakhidze Accuses NGOs of Lack of Transparency and Spreading False Information
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
During a government meeting, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze criticized the lack of transparency in the operations of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), highlighting the public's lack of access to information regarding the recipients or purposes of the funds. He condemned the dissemination of false information and stressed the significance of society being fully informed about all matters.
"False information is being spread, as if information on the financing of non-governmental organizations is still available to the government and government institutions. This is a lie. We extracted information about seven non-governmental organizations. These are the strongest in terms of resources,this time I will not say rich, and also non-governmental organizations distinguished by extremism. It turned out that since 2012, they have declared at most 18% of the funds they spend. In particular, the total amount that was shown, but without details, was 85 million 400 thousand GEL," Kobakhidze stated.
The Prime Minister accused NGOs of spending a significant portion of their funds without providing any detailed information or transparency about how the money is used. He stated that out of a total of more than 85 million, at least 70 million have been spent by these NGOs in a non-transparent manner.
"It is reported that at least this amount has been spent by the respective NGOs, although we have no information on the purpose or specific sources of these funds. We have detailed information only about 18%, about 15 million 400 thousand GEL," Kobakhidze stated.
In this statement, Kobakhidze pointed out that a significant portion of NGOs' expenses is not reported to the Ministry of Finance. He specified examples such as travel expenses, major portions of office rent, and purchases made without electronic waybills.
"In addition, it is worth noting that a large part of their expenses is not shown at all to the Ministry of Finance. This includes travel expenses, the largest part of office rent, and purchases made without electronic waybills, which are quite significant. Therefore, it is safe to say that not 82%, but much more than 90% of the funds they spend are completely non-transparent to the public. Even the government has absolutely no information about who and what it was funded for," Kobakhidze said.
