New Head of State Audit Agency Appointed

Parliament approved on July 15 Levan Bezhashvili as new chairman of the Chamber of Control, the main state audit agency, replacing Levan Choladze. The parliamentary minority also supported the appointment.

“An increase in public and political confidence towards this agency is needed,” Bezhashvili, who served as governor of the Kakheti region before his new appointment, told lawmakers before his approval to the post. “Reforms are also needed to increase the agency’s efficiency.”

Levan Choladze, the former chief of the state audit agency, who held the position since May 2007, will reportedly become Georgian ambassador to Israel, replacing Lasha Zhvania, who is now a ruling party lawmaker.

The chairman of the Control of Chamber is elected for a five-year term.

Nino Burjanadze, former parliamentary chairperson, criticized the authorities’ decision to replace the head of Control of Chamber much earlier than had been originally planned.

Speaking at a Tbilisi-based radio station, Imedi FM, last week, Burjanadze said she could not understand what the rationale behind this replacement was. “It is unacceptable if the replacement was made in response to a change of leadership in the parliament,” she said, referring to the fact that the former head of the Chamber of Control was appointed under her tenure.

She said such an approach undermined state institutions.

It was Burjanadze’s first public criticism of the authorities on a concrete matter, since she quit the ruling party in April.

The headquarters of the state audit agency will be relocated from Tbilisi to Kutaisi – Georgia’s second largest town in the western part of the country. The parliamentary minority criticized the move, saying GEL 18 million on relocation costs was unacceptable.