Watchdog: Officials Get Sizeable “Gifts” from Family Members

26/10/2023 - 15:59

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) recently published comprehensive research focusing on the “gifts” received by public officials in Georgia. The report highlights the inherent risks associated with gifts to public officials, such as the potential for favoritism that can damage the reputation of the civil service. In addition, the report highlights that the gifts can sometimes be linked to corruption schemes aimed at concealing illicit income as high-value gifts.

Legal Framework

The potential risks associated with gifts by public officials are addressed by legislation. The Anti-Corruption Law says a public official may not accept gifts or services that may influence their impartiality when performing official duties. The Law limits the value of gifts, both in terms of the cumulative value within a year and the monetary value of individual gifts. Violations can result in criminal liability.

According to IDFI, the same Law also makes exceptions for a gift from a family member or close relative.

Resolution N200, issued by the Government of Georgia in 2017, provides further regulations concerning the acceptance of gifts by civil servants within the context of official relationships. It allows for gifts received for charitable purposes without compromising a civil servant’s official authority or actions.

Georgian legislation also mandates the disclosure of gifts received by the officials and their families if their value exceeds GEL 500. These should be reflected in mandatory property declarations.

Analyzing Declarations

IDFI looked into such declarations filed from 2021 to 2023 by officials of the executive branch and found that:

In 2020-2021, 394 officials or their family members received gifts with a cumulative value amounting to GEL 27.8 million.
90% of these gifts, with a value of GEL 25.1 million, were received from family and close relatives. An additional 8% (GEL 2.1 million), came from relatives whose gift-giving is restricted by law. The remaining 2%, totaling 0.6 million, were received from friends, colleagues, and other sources.
Officials received gifts totaling GEL 16.6 million in money, GEL 9.1 million in the form of real estate, and the remaining GEL 2.1 million in the form of cars or other valuable items.
Among the executive authorities, the highest number of gifts were received by employees in law enforcement agencies and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Within the executive branch, individuals who receive costly gifts frequently hold positions associated with a high risk of corruption. For instance, the Head of the Department of Quality Control and Construction Supervisor at the Ministry of Defense was gifted real estate valued at USD 200 thousand from his father. The wife of the Deputy Head of the Revenue Service was gifted real estate worth GEL 450 thousand by her parents.
The Prime Minister is ranked 18th in terms of the value of gifts received, with a total of GEL 300 thousand.
As part of the monitoring efforts, numerous suspicious cases involving officials allegedly receiving gifts in violation of the law have been uncovered. For instance, in 2022, Bakur Giorgobiani, the Deputy Head of one of the divisions at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, received a series of cash gifts from various sources. These included 24 cash gifts from his wife’s aunt, totaling USD 14,690 and EUR 410, USD 3,250 from his wife’s aunt’s grandchild, EUR 6,000 from a wife’s friend, GEL 8,450 and USD 2,000 from his wife’s mother, and USD 1,000 from other relatives of his spouse, in addition to GEL 12,110 GEL and USD 403 from his friends.
Individual declarations made by officials often fail to provide precise information regarding the relationship between the recipient and the giver of the gift.

Officials’ most expensive gifts

In a recent case, the substantial cash gifts received by the Prime Minister of Georgia from his parents have been the subject of considerable scrutiny, highlighting the need for transparency in such cases.

In 2021-2022, the Prime Minister declared a monetary gift totaling GEL 300 thousand from his parents. In 2023 the Prime Minister used a government aircraft for personal travel, with the financial support of his parents cited as the source of funding for the cost of this flight. IDFI says that while the law does not explicitly prohibit the Prime Minister from accepting such cash gifts from his parents, an inquiry into the source of his parents’ assets may be appropriate.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials received a significant number of gifts, with high costs mainly attributed to expensive gifts from close relatives. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khatuna Totladze, received a substantial cash gift of USD 430,000 in 2020-2021 from her grandmother and mother. Liana Lataria, Head of the Neighboring Countries Division, received gifts valued at GEL 804,765 in 2020-2021 from her parents. These gifts included a Porsche 911 CARRERA 4S worth EUR 119,000, a residential apartment valued at USD 100,000, and a cash gift of GEL 60,000.

Conclusion

IDFI stresses that a notable problem in the Georgian civil service is the inadequacy of regulations and unclear legislation regarding gifts. Although the law imposes restrictions on gifts accepted by family members of public officials, it does not provide for adequate accountability for violations. IDFI is concerned that the determination of the legality of individual cases is hindered by the incomplete declarations submitted by officials.

IDFI believes that the prevalence of officials receiving gifts in recent years underscores the necessity for monitoring the legal constraints on gifting to public servants and enhancing their enforcement. “The factual situations outlined in the study serve as substantial grounds for scrutinizing the legality of gifts received by numerous officials and warrant further investigation,” reads the report.

IDFI’s recommendations:

Urging the anti-corruption bureau to comprehensively investigate each suspicious case of officials receiving gifts within the framework of property declaration monitoring.

Necessary revisions should be made to Georgian legislation to establish clear regulations governing the acceptance of gifts by the family members of public servants and to institute effective mechanisms for enforcing these rules.

In the process of monitoring declarations, it is essential to clarify the declarations of all officials that do not allow for the precise identification of the relationship between the gift-giver and the recipient. Additionally, it is advisable to introduce changes to the filling rules that would mandate officials to specify the exact date of receiving the gift in their declarations.

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