16 influential NGOs made the joint statement about the case of TBC Bank. The third sector suspects that the investigation against Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze could be politically motivated.
Non-governmental organizations are concerned about the increasing tendencies of non-formal governance and call to the government for better understanding of the damage of the state interests.
"On July 24, the General Prosecutor"s Office of Georgia accused the founders of TBC Bank, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze to the illegal revenue legalization 11 years ago. The investigation launched in August 2018.
Signatories say that the unity of the circumstances over this case, the investigation could be politically motivated. This is confirmed by the fact that on July 9, Mamuka Khazaradze made the statement about creating of public movement.
At the same time, Mr Khazaradze is the founder of the development of the project of Port of Anaklia. Mr. Khazaradze pointed out the pressure from the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the Ministry of Finance and Budget Committee hearing in 2019.
Organizations expressed concern about the growing tendency of informal governance and state capture, which reveals in the large concentration of power in the ruling party, influential individuals and informal groups.
They urge the Prosecutor General"s Office of Georgia to make convincing evidence public and prove that the accusation of Mr. Khazaradze and Japaridze is not politically motivated. In case of unresolved, existing unanswered questions will significantly hamper the state"s democratic development and harm the country"s international reputation.
They also urge the authorities to fully realize the issue and damage of interests of the state which are caused by injustice. They should realize the threat which can become real if the project of the Port of Anaklia will be delayed.
"We call to the international partners of Georgia to pay particular attention to recent processes in Georgia around TBC Bank and Project of the Port of Anaklia not to harm Georgia"s long-term democratic development," - NGOs said.
Subscribers to the application are:
"Transparency International - Georgia"
"Open Society Foundation"
"Georgia"s democratic initiative"
"Media Development Foundation"
"World Experience for Georgia"
"Research Journalism and Economic Analysis Center"
"Georgian Association of Reforms"
"Green Alternative"
"Atlantic Council of Georgia"
"Safari"
""United Nations Association of Georgia"
"Economic Policy Research Center"
"Civil Development Agency"
"International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy"
"Initiative for Rehabilitation of Vulnerable Groups"
"Institute for Development of Freedom of Information"