Georgian Parliament Speaker: specific international donors of domestic NGOs refuse to disclose information about funding

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday claimed there were specific international donors of domestic non-governmental organisations who refused to disclose the information about their funding.

Papuashvili’s comments followed after the parliamentary majority on Wednesday decided to resubmit the bill on the Transparency of Foreign Influence to the legislative body. The bill provides for a single requirement that organisations receiving foreign funding publish their annual financial reports.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Papuashvili noted that these organisations were not going to disclose to the Georgian public what they were spending money on in Georgia.

“Today one can say that there are specific donors who refuse to disclose the information about their funding, although I personally sometimes communicated directly with the donor, sometimes through various diplomatic representatives, but here there is an absolutely dead wall. These organisations are not going to disclose to the Georgian public what they spend money on in Georgia”, Papuashvili said.

“This is a fact and this is the reaction we see today from some [domestic] organisations that are funded by these foundations. What we saw today, the groups trying to shut down common sense, are the very organisations funded by these foundations that refuse to disclose their funding”, he noted.

Georgian Parliament last year retracted the bill on the transparency of foreign influence amid a backlash by domestic opposition, civil sector and diplomatic representations in the country.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Wednesday noted that the only change in the bill would concern replacing the term “agent of foreign influence” with “organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.