Transparency International Georgia has studied LEPL Civil Service Bureau’s Report on the Results of Asset Declarations Monitoring 2022 and found that:
In 2022 the declarants most frequently (in 78%) failed to declare and/or incorrectly declared the information related to family members, including family member(s)’ revenues, movable and immovable property, banking accounts, contracts, and material benefits received from them.
It is alarming that the number of violations related to declaring data on family member(s) has been increasing every year since 2019. Whereas in 2019 this type of violation could be found in 63% of the negatively assessed declarations, in 2022 this figure increased to 78%.
In 2022, the Civil Service Bureau verified the asset declarations of 346 public officials, 181 (52%) of which had been submitted with violations. With the Bureau’s decision, 136 officials (39%) were fined, while 45 of them (13%) received a warning.
Despite the fact that the number of negatively assessed declarations decreased by 4% in comparison to the previous year, 52% is a high figure and means that every other declaration is incomplete and flawed.
"In 2022, the declarations with violations were most frequently submitted by members of the Parliament of Georgia (83%). This figure has sharply deteriorated, as 42% of the declarations of MPs were assessed negatively in 2021. It should be noted that in comparison to 2021, three times as many declarations of MPs were verified in 2022 due to the reasoned applications of TI Georgia, that were reflecting the findings of our study.
Following Members of Parliament, the public officials with the highest rate of violations are: heads of state-owned enterprises and non-commercial organizations (67%), municipal officials (55%). As for the officials at classified positions,[4] 27 such declarations were verified in 2022 and a violation was found in 11 of them (41%).
According to the CSB 2022 monitoring report, Zurab Khachidze, the Deputy State Representative to the Municipalities of Adigeni, Aspindza, Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki, Borjomi and Ninotsminda, has the most violations - in 8 categories. Khachidze failed to declare his own and his family member’s real estate, entrepreneurial activity, banking accounts, other expenses and revenues; he also failed to declare the salary received during the year and a contract he had concluded; he incorrectly declared the amount on banking accounts; it is noteworthy that Khachidze failed to submit information on the banking account of his family member even after a request by the Civil Service Bureau.
As for the categories of violations, in 2022 the declarants most frequently (in 78%) failed to declare and/or incorrectly declared the information related to family members, including family member(s)’ revenues, movable and immovable property, banking accounts, contracts, and material benefits received from them.
It is alarming that the number of violations related to declaring data on family member(s) has been increasing every year since 2019. Whereas in 2019 this type of violation could be found in 63% of the negatively assessed declarations, in 2022 this figure increased to 78%",- the report reads.
