The Georgian PM's retired father gave him another fat sum - $66,500. How did he afford it?

Gift to PM of Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has filled out a property declaration, which shows his income and expenses for the past year.

The document shows that last year he received 180 thousand GEL [about $66,5 thousand] as a gift from his parents.

This is not the first time that his retired parents have given him a large sum of money. According to the declarations for 2020 and 2021, during this period Garibashvili’s parents gave him only 150,000 GEL [about $55 thousand].

In total, in the last three years alone, Garibashvili received 480,000 GEL [about $177,000] as a gift from his parents.

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Who is the Prime Minister’s father and where did he get so much money?

The Prime Minister’s father, Tariel Garibashvili, is an unemployed pensioner who officially has no business, although he has a huge house and a total of 4.5 hectares of land in his native municipality, Dedoplistskaro.

The register shows that Tariel Garibashvili started buying land in 2014 after his son became Prime Minister. Until 2012, Garibashvili’s father held the position of one of the trustees of the village and owned only the family house and a plot of land, a Mtavari TV investigation says.

The only business that is registered in the name of Garibashvili’s father today is a 50% stake in Georgian Roots LLC. The extracts from the public register show that Tariel Garibashvili bought a share of this wine company on February 7, 2023 for 200,000 GEL [about $74,000]. That is, before that, in the years when Tariel Garibashvili gave his son 300,000 GEL [about $111,000], he did not officially own any business.

Tariel Garibashvili gives his son not only large sums of money, but also other gifts. At least, this is the official version. In early September, journalists learned that the Prime Minister used the government plane for personal purposes – for transportation of his family.

The trip from Tbilisi to Munich and from Munich to Tbilisi on a government plane cost 34,000 euros in August 2023. According to the official version, this amount was paid by Tariel Garibashvili.

At the time, the Prime Minister explained to journalists that he was from a well-to-do family that never had financial problems.

However, there is an interview of Tariel Garibashvili from 2013 on the internet, which he gave to ambebi.ge after his son took office as Prime Minister. In this interview, Tariel Garibashvili recalled that he sent his son to study in France with money raised by his friends, and Irakli Garibashvili, who was in France, helped the family financially by working as a waiter.

Tariel Garibashvili said the same thing in an interview with Nino Jgarkava nine years ago.

It is known from the story of “Mtavari” that the area of pensioner Tariel Garibashvili’s estate in his native village of Khornabuja is increasing every year. According to documents, a year ago the Prime Minister’s father bought a neighbor’s house and is now building there.

“The estimated amount that the Garibashvili family has spent on the construction of houses, yard and swimming pool far exceeds not only Tariel Garibashvili’s pension, but also the income that the Prime Minister receives in the form of salary year after year,” the article says.

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Other property of Garibashvili – according to the current declaration

As for the other property of the Prime Minister:

Garibashvili received 41,000 GEL [about $15,000] as a salary. For comparison, this is almost twice as much as the salary that ordinary ministers receive.

In his declaration, the Prime Minister states that he has 40,000 GEL [about $14,700] in cash savings. He also has 23,000 GEL [about $8,500] in his bank accounts. Prime Minister’s wife Nunu Tamazashvili has up to 100,000 GEL [about $37,000] in her bank accounts.

Last year the Prime Minister’s family acquired new real estate – bought a land plot of 1,530 square meters and a 402 square meter house in Borjomi municipality, for which they paid $76,500.

The Prime Minister’s family spent 58,000 GEL [about $21,500] on the education of their children, while Irakli Garibashvili indicates $8,868 as travel expenses.