Recently, the Georgian Dream’s Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service have been speaking about the corruption of former high-ranking officials and have been providing the public with information almost daily about the former Prime Minister, the former head of the State Security Service, the former Minister of Defense and their associates hiding millions of dollars worth of assets, illegally enriching themselves, legalizing illegal income, and other similar violations.

For years, when Transparency International Georgia and investigative media sounded the alarm about the problem of elite corruption, Georgian Dream called it a lie and said that corruption had been defeated in the country.

Now they themselves confirm that for many years the country was governed by kleptocratic principles and that the highest government officials were involved in large-scale corruption schemes – embezzling millions of budget funds from the Georgian army, students and every citizen of Georgia.

The fact is that the causes of elite corruption have not changed – the state remained captured.

For years, investigative agencies, prosecutors, judges, employees of the State Security Service and the Anti-Corruption Bureau have been involved in covering up corruption. Now, they are trying to portray the process of removing a political competitor from within the Georgian Dream as fight against corruption.

In reality, elite corruption was and remains much more widespread.

Transparency International Georgia has recorded 250 cases of elite corruption in the last 5 years alone, involving 221 high-ranking officials, including 38 ministers or deputy ministers, 40 MPs, 17 judges and 67 municipal officials.

These corruption cases include schemes such as:

1. Misappropriation of budget funds through public procurement

• 5 billion GEL is the amount that, according to investigations by Transparency International Georgia alone, Georgian Dream officials have received through corrupt means in the form of public procurement over the past 10 years. Of this, 3.3 billion GEL comes from the regions. Almost a third of this amount – more than 1 billion 130 million GEL – was spent in 2024, after Irakli Kobakhidze became Prime Minister.

To name just a few cases:

• 650 million GEL was received from state procurement by the company of Otar Tateshvili, a businessman close to Bidzina Ivanishvili, after he sold land to Ivanishvili in Abastumani to build a house.
• 390 million GEL was received from tenders by the company Serpentine, owned by Irakli Gharibashvili’s relatives, in 2013-2025.
• 392 million GEL was received from state procurement by companies associated with Giorgi Chkonia, a member of the Georgian Dream party, in 2011-2025.
• Companies linked to Georgian Dream MP Anzor Bolkvadze received 30 million GEL from state procurements in 2016-2024.
• Companies linked to Georgian Dream MP Viktor Japaridze received 25 million GEL from state procurements in the last 7 years.
• Companies belonging to Senaki Mayor Vakhtang Gadelia’s uncle received 32 million GEL from state procurements of Senaki City Hall after his first election as mayor in 2021.
• Members of the 2021 Akhaltsikhe City Council, family members and relatives received 25 million GEL from municipal procurements over 4 years.
• This type of corruption is also prevalent at lower levels of the civil service, for example: 2.2 million GEL was received by family members and relatives of up to 10 employees of the Adigeni municipality through public procurements made by the same municipality in 2017-2025.

2. Corruption scheme of enrichment through subsidies, agricultural programs and business support programs

• 71 million GEL was received by Georgian Dream donor companies from state agricultural programs. In return, these companies returned 7.7 million GEL to the party in the form of donations. A large part of this amount – 56 million GEL – went to one person, Vakhtang Karichashvili, a business partner of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s cousin Ucha Mamatsashvili.
• 30 million GEL was received from the grape harvest subsidy program in 2022 by companies associated with members of the Georgian Dream.
• 7.4 million GEL is the amount received from the state business support program Entreprise Georgia by companies that returned 1.6 million GEL as donations to the Georgian Dream in 2024.

3. Systemic political corruption related to the financing of the ruling party

• Companies linked to Georgian Dream donors received 1 billion 28 million GEL in state procurements during the 2020-2024 elections. In return, they donated 7.7 million GEL to the Georgian Dream.

4. Licenses and permits for influential individuals

• A large part of the permits for the construction of small and medium-sized hydropower plants are distributed through corruption. As an example, 29 such permits have been received by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s relative, businessman Koka Kokolashvili. HPP permits have been obtained by family members of Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Davit Songulashvili and several other members of the Georgian Dream.
• Construction permits are also being issued massively through corrupt means, especially in Tbilisi and Batumi, the results of which are visible to residents of these cities every day. Corruption investigations related to construction permits are routinely reported in the media.

5. Getting hold of state property through privatization or lease agreements

• The cases of Irakli Gharibashvili and Davit Narmania indicate that officials are able to easily seize forests for personal use using long-term lease agreements.
• In 2013-2020, state property was sold for 13 million GEL to individuals who, shortly after receiving the property, returned 2 million GEL to the ruling party as donations.
• In Adjara alone, more than 15  million GEL of property was received through privatization by donors to the Georgian Dream in 2022-2024.
• More than 300 decrees adopted by the government in 2021-2023, which transferred state property to companies and individuals directly without any competition, often for a symbolic 1 GEL, are still inaccessible to the public.

6. Adoption of tailored laws for the purpose of tax evasion

• The potential loss that the Georgian state budget suffered as a result of the adoption of the so-called “offshore law” tailored to Bidzina Ivanishvili is estimated to be up to $100 million. The legal amendments made it possible for Ivanishvili to import his collection of expensive art and other assets into the country without paying any taxes.

7. Disguising unsubstantiated income with gifts received from family members

• 34 million GEL is the amount that high-ranking officials declared in 2024-2025 as gifts received from family members. It is likely that in this way some officials are trying to disguise their illegal income, which the Georgian Dream Prosecutor's Office itself confirmed on the example of Irakli Gharibashvili.

Over the past 10 years, as soon as these corruption schemes were made public, Transparency International Georgia sent dozens of letters to the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service and the Prosecutor's Office requesting an investigation into specific cases. A few months ago, we also contacted the Anti-Corruption Bureau and requested a response, providing materials on 65 corruption cases we had identified. None of these agencies reacted to any of these corruption cases.