PM Under Fire for Private US Trip on State Aircraft

A scandal has erupted over Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s use of a government plane to fly himself and members of his family to the United States. The scandal started out with the government administration Strategic Communications department head Nino Giorgobiani publishing a FB post on September 7 saying that that “some media are trying to create a scandal over the fact that Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili travelled to the US in August with his son, who was starting his academic year at the University of Pennsylvania.” Giorgobiani wrote that there was nothing scandalous, “no laws” were broken and “no state money was spent”.

She specified that “the Prime Minister was on a private visit to the USA, and his travel, charter (commercial) flight or other expenses were not paid from the state budget.” She also advised to wait for the PM’s next declaration of assets to be published at the end of the year.” The post, was allegedly prompted by the work of investigative journalists who had found out about the trip and were conducting an investigation into the matter.

After questions were raised about how exactly the Prime Minister chartered a flight to the United States, the government’s Startcom changed its story claiming that Garibashvili had arrived in Europe on a charter flight, and from there he took a regular flight to the United States.

The pro-opposition TV Pirveli journalists’ team obtained the full flight route of the government plane, which confirms that the plane, which Irakli Garibashvili used on August 19 for personal purposes during his vacation, belongs to the Georgian government, and is operated by “Georgian Airways” airline. Both pilots and flight attendants are employees of Tamaz Gaiashvili, the head of the Georgian Airways. Gaiashvili confirmed to TV Pirveli that Garibashivli travelled to Munich, Germany on Georgian Airways aircraft. He also told the TV Pirveli investigative team that he had been instructed by Anzor Chubinidze of the Special State Protection Service to take the Prime Minister to Munich and to fly him back.

Today, the pro-government channel “Imedi” broadcasted the statement of Anzor Chubinidze, the head of the Special Service of the State Protection of Georgia. According to Chubinidze, Prime Minister Garibashvili’s visit to the USA was commercial and therefore the costs were not paid from the budget funds.

“Our aircraft is on the balance sheet of the State Security Agency, a legal entity under public law of the Special Service of State Protection. This agency has the full right to receive income in various forms and forms from governmental and budgetary structures, as well as from non-governmental, commercial and private individuals. This visit was commercial in nature, as originally stated in the assignment, and of course the reimbursement would come from a non-budgetary organization or private individual.

Anzor Chubinidze said in his statement that notwithstanding the nature of a visit “according to Georgian legislation, the Special State Protection Service is obliged to provide security not only for the Prime Minister but also for all his escorts, both on Georgian territory and abroad”.

According to the information obtained by the TV Pirveli journalists, there were around 10 passengers on board of the plane: Prime Minister Garibashvili, several members of his family and personal guards. 

Moreover, not only did the Prime Minister allegedly fly on holiday in the state plane, but, according to the journalistic investigation by TV Pirveli, the plane that took the Prime Minister to Munich was parked at the German airport for the whole week that he was in the United States. Gaiashvili claims it was there for “technical servicing”.

The Prime Minister landed back in Tbilisi in the afternoon of August 28.

So far, it is unknown how much the Prime Minister’s trip to the US with his son cost. According to his financial statement filed in October 2022, his annual salary was around 45,000 GEL (around 17,000 USD), which is comparable to a mid-level civil servant and much lower than the salaries of cabinet ministers. The statement also said that he had received a “gift” of GEL 150,000 (about USD 57,000) from his parents.

After the TV Pirveli journalistic investigation had been aired, the Government Stratcom published one more statement saying that that the channel’s story is “disinformation” which the channel spread “deliberately” and is “aimed at misleading the public.” The government’s Stratacom reiterated that the flight that took the Prime Minister to Munich was commercial and that “the Prime Minister’s travel or other expenses during this private visit were not covered by the state budget”.

This news article was updated at 8:05 pm on September 10 pm to include the government Stratcom statement regarding the TV Pirveli story.

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