Reactions to U.S. Helsinki Commission Accusing GD of being Sponsored by Scam Call Centers

On August 12, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, called on the U.S. State Department to “crack down” on the call centers “that sponsor Georgian Dream’s antidemocratic campaign against the Georgian people.” According to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party “relies on dark money from a network of scam call centers around the world to fund its operations and harass its opposition.”

We have collected the assessments of the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s statement by the parliamentary majority representatives and the opposition:

Parliamentary Majority

Givi Mikanadze, Georgian Dream: “This is a very rude interference in the pre-election process… They have not presented any evidence, and therefore, of course, it cannot be accepted, because the statement is made directly, you could say, in support of the opposition parties… This definitely needs proof, and we expect them to provide this specific proof, although what does not exist in nature cannot be provided… I do not remember any statement by the Helsinki Commission on the international investigation, which was carried out jointly by Germany, Georgia and other countries’ investigative bodies, on the criminal network, which the criminal Kezerashvili carried out against European pensioners through call centers”.

Beka Odisharia, Georgian Dream: “This is utter cynicism. Our country is doing everything for transparency and for the extremely principled fight that related to the call centers… I don’t know what the Helsinki group’s tasks and goals are if it spreads such blatant lies. I refrain from describing their behavior in more rude terms. Immaturity and lack of information would be the mildest [reasons], but I suspect that they have both, they just have an entirely different goal. The goal is clear: Georgia will be blamed in some way, the peacekeeping government will be replaced, for a group of errand boys, a herd of girls come to power, who will carry out any task ordered from outside.”

Gia Volski, Georgian Dream: “It is a disturbing statement, because everyone knows that the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an intensive investigation with European prosecutors in connection with the “call centers” in order to prove this crime, and everything has shown that Kezerashvili, the financier of the “[United] National Movement” and the party’s real political leader, was involved in this crime. All of a sudden we are turning this statement into a non-existent reality, as if the Georgian government is involved in the crime of these “call centers”, which will create a basis for the non-recognition of the elections…”

Guram Macharashvili, People’s Power: “This conclusion and statement of Helsinki is like someone throwing stones from a glass house. Everyone has seen in public that, unfortunately, black money is circulating in Georgia, coming from foreign donors, who have even confirmed that, yes, they are financing political forces. We have seen in the last days and weeks that this black money is being spent directly on the pre-election [campaigns]…”

Opposition

Natia Mezvrishvili, Gakharia for Georgia: “If they don’t receive benefits from this criminal money, if they didn’t use this black money to bribe the “sonder-groups” during the rallies, and they didn’t use it for organized violence against their own citizens along with robbing pensioners, I have a simple question – why aren’t they investigating? Why are they covering up the criminals? Is it because the [Georgian] Dream was using these call centers to intimidate its own people?” [allegedly referring to the campaign of telephone threats against opponents]

Coalition “Strong Georgia”: “Robbery of people is the signature of “Georgian Dream” and Bidzina Ivanishvili, and it is already an internationally recognized fact. The Helsinki Commission confirmed that Ivanishvili is trying to influence the democratic processes in Georgia in a criminal way – with funds obtained through illegal call centers”.

Petre Tsiskarishvili, United National Movement/Coalition “Unity”: “This is the clearest recent signal that the country is being ruled by a criminal syndicate, it is not just a political statement, it is a legal accusation that would not have been heard if there was no irrefutable evidence in connection with the said activity.”

Nika Melia, Ahali/”Coalition for Change”: “As it has already been brought to light that this fraudulent scheme of call centers is a source of money for “Georgian Dream”, the United States of America is talking about it, of course, these people will not be able to avoid financial sanctions sooner or later. Better sooner than later.”

Roman Gotsiridze, political group “Eurooptimists”: “The call center is a huge infrastructure… It is impossible [to imagine] that during 12 years “Georgian Dream” was not able to identify the existence of those call centers… The election campaign of Georgian Dream is financed with this money”.

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