Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament of Georgia Supports Deoligarchization Bill
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, April 13, 2023
The Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia reviewed the draft law on Deoligarchization, which reflects the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
According to the draft law, a person is considered an oligarch if they participate in political life, influences media services and possesses significant economic resources.
The definition of all three criteria is written in the project.
According to the amendments, the anti-corruption bureau will have the authority to recognize a person as an oligarch, instead of the Georgian government.
The anti-corruption bureau will be obliged to conduct a thorough investigation to find out whether a person is an oligarch or not.
The decision of the anti-corruption bureau to recognize or not to recognize a person as an oligarch is subject to judicial control, which can be appealed and there will be two instances of appeal.
The decision to recognize a person as an oligarch will not enter into force until the proceedings are completed.
According to the project, the person who will be considered as an oligarch will have procedural and legal guarantees. According to Anri Okhanashvili, the speaker, the chairman of the legal issues committee, the Venice Commission recommended that the right to privacy, personal data, including special categories, should be protected as much as possible.
Therefore, the following information will be included in the register of oligarchs: the decision of the anti-corruption bureau on the recognition of a person as an oligarch, the name and surname of a person known as an oligarch, a declaration of contact and reference to the fact that recognition of a person as an oligarch and entry into the register does not in itself prove that this person is a criminal or another type of violator of the law.
According to Okhanashvili, based on the recommendation of the Venice Commission, the ban defined for a person known as an oligarch on financing a political party, election entity, election campaign, assembly and manifestation has been removed from the bill.
As the chairman of the committee stated, taking into account the recommendation of the Venice Commission, the article related to impeccable business reputation was removed from the draft law.
