Companies associated with Gori’s majoritarian candidate received more than GEL 91.8 million from tenders
By Inga Kakulia
Wednesday, September 4
After being nominated as Gori majoritarian candidate, Ioseb Makrakhidze and his family members received more than GEL 91.8 million from state procurement. This is stated in the report of Transparency International Georgia.
The tenders for the companies related to Makrakhidze and his family were largely non-competitive, with the majority of the procurements being based in Gori and other Shida Kartli municipalities.
As for the financing of political parties, the study states that Ioseb Makrakhidze and his family members have been actively transferring money to the accounts of the ruling parties since 2011. In total, they have transferred GEL 253,000 to the United National Movement and the Georgian Dream.
Ioseb Makrakhidze has been running businesses even before being elected as a Member of Parliament: his companies received GEL 43 million from 2014-2016 state orders. However, in July 2016, after the Georgian Dream's nomination as a majoritarian candidate in Gori, as of May 2019, the revenue from tenders in Makrakhidze's companies was up approximately 1.7 times (up to GEL 75 million).
From July 2016 until May 2019, 3 related companies won 69 tenders, 26 simplified procurement contracts were signed and totaled GEL 91.8 million in revenues from the budgets of municipal and other public agencies.
On July 31, 2016, the Georgian Dream's nomination of Gori's majoritarian MP candidate for the parliamentary elections was preceded by a court ruling that ended the criminal prosecution against Makrakhidze. According to Factcheck, Ioseb Makrakhidze was charged with misappropriation of funds: the prosecutor's office charged him with embezzlement and fraud of 79 450 GEL in several episodes in 2012-2014. In April 2016, he was given bail for GEL 10,000. Nine days before his nomination as a majoritarian candidate in Gori, at a court hearing on July 22, 2019, Ioseb Makrakhidze's lawyer demanded the termination of criminal prosecution against the businessman based on the amnesty law, which was agreed by the prosecutor's office.
Transparency International Georgia calls on the State Audit Office to look into the contracts signed by Ioseb Makrakhidze and his family members with Gori Municipality and other procuring entities. Also, it calls on the State Anti-Corruption Service to study the involvement of companies affiliated with Ioseb Makrakhidze, to identify and respond to possible corruption deals in state tenders.
