The newsletter gives an overview of donations received by political parties from April 1 through June 30, 2024.

Despite the approaching parliamentary elections,  the 2^nd quarter of 2024 was not distinguished by large amounts of donations. The total donation received by all the parties was less than GEL 2 million; for the sake of comparison, in the 2^nd quarter of 2020, the parties received donations of up to GEL 5 million. The Georgian Dream has received a donation of up to GEL 1 million, which is more than that of other parties, although it does not equal the amounts the ruling party used to receive in the analogous periods of the years of parliamentary elections. In spite of this, the donors of the Georgian Dream still include interest holders of companies that win multi-million-lari public tenders, as well as donors the companies connected with whom have received subsidies from the budget, mining licenses, and state-owned real estate by means of privatization.

The statistics of donations

From April 1 through June 30, 2024, 207 donors donated a total of 1,930,293 to all the political parties, which exceeds the analogous figure of the previous quarter (GEL 1,224,111) by about 60%. Fifty percent of the partisan donations – GEL 961,176 – was received by the Georgian Dream, Lelo for Georgia ranks second with GEL 464,990, and the United National Movement (UNM) ranks third with GEL 302,682.

In the reporting period, 207 donors donated amounts to all the parties 276 times. The UNM, which received a donation 73 times during the reporting period, takes the lead in terms of the number of donors (66 donors); the Change Georgia party received 55 donations (35 donors), and the Georgian Dream received 32 donations (31 donors). The Change Georgia party was established in 2020 and it had not received any donations until May of this year, while in the reporting period it received up to GEL 26,000.

An overview of donors of the Georgian Dream and People’s Power^[1]

From April 1 through June 30, 2024, 31 donors donated a total of GEL 961,176 to the Georgian Dream. These individuals have donated GEL 2.4 million in total to the Georgian Dream.^[2] Among the companies connected with the 31 donors, 2 companies have won tenders during 2024. The total value of these tenders was GEL 81 million (these companies have won tenders with a total value of GEL 294 million since 2013; see the details in Table 1). The People’s Power party has received a donation for the first time. Two individuals donated a total of GEL 96,000 to the party; these include MP Viktor Japaridze (he  donated GEL 38,000 to the party). During the same period, a company connected with Japaridze obtained simplified procurement contracts worth GEL 138,000.

Sergo Khabuliani donated GEL 10,000 to the Georgian Dream on April 4. He had also donated GEL 40,000 to the ruling party in March, so we also wrote about him in the previous quarterly newsletter. Since the publication of the newsletter, his company, Tsekuri LLC, has won two more tenders with a total value of GEL 14.8 million, while the company has won tenders worth GEL 79 million in total since the beginning of the year. Since 2013, this company has won tenders with a value of up to GEL 294 million. Since 2018, Sergo Khabuliani, his spouse Lela Meshveliani, his sons Beka and Irakli Khabuliani, and his company, Tsekuri, have donated GEL 448,000 to the Georgian Dream.

Viktor Japaridze donated GEL 38,000 to the People’s Power party in April and May. A company connected with Japaridze, Seti+ LLC, has been awarded 16 simplified procurement contracts with a total value of GEL 138,514 since the beginning of the year.

In addition to public procurements, 6 companies connected with donors of the Georgian Dream received subsidies in the framework of state agro-programs in the years 2021-2023 (see Table 2).

Levan Nekreselashvili and Vazha Tsigroshvili donated GEL 64,000 in total to the party on the same day (they have donated  a total of GEL 434,000 to the ruling party); and companies connected with them – Chateau Nekresi LLC, Coop Nekreseli, and Marniskari LLC – received GEL 1,544,783 through various state agro-programs in the years 2021-2022.

Mikheil Buzaladze donated GEL 20,000 to the Georgian Dream. He is the director of the wine-producing company, Rtvelisi LLC, which received more than GEL 1 million from the state budget through the preferential agro-credit and agro-insurance programs in the years 2021-2023. In addition, the company received GEL 408,000 in the framework of the grape harvest subsidy program in 2022 and 2023.

Badri Alpaidze donated GEL 30,000 to the Georgian Dream in May; a company connected with him, Bio Berry Georgia LLC (Alpaidze is its director and owner of a 50% stake), had received a preferential agro-credit of GEL 56,000 in December 2023. In addition, in July of the same year, the company had obtained a land plot with area of 106,959 sq. meters in the village of Maghlaki, Tskaltubo Municipality, by means of privatization.

Elguja Muchauri donated GEL 20,000 to the Georgian Dream on April 22. On February 23, 2024, two months before the donation was made, a company connected with Muchauri, E.I.L.J. LLC, obtained a license for the extraction of 95,400 cubic meters of sand and gravel from the Liakhvi River in the territory adjacent to the City of Gori for the duration of five years.  

Adelaida Nanikashvili donated GEL 60,000 to the Georgian Dream on April 4, and on April 23, by a decree of the government, the licensed amount of minerals to be extracted by her company, IMC LLC, was increased fivefold.