The government, not the parliament, will decide who an oligarch is

Identification of oligarchs in Georgia

By decision of the ruling Georgian Dream party, after the adoption of a law on deoligarchization, the decision to recognize citizens as oligarchs will be made by the government, not the parliament. The parliamentary majority say that this is the only difference between the Georgian and Ukrainian laws on deoligarchization, and the change will eliminate the possibility of “manipulation”. The Parliament of Georgia adopted a bill on deoligarchization with 76 deputies in favor, six against.

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This law was copied verbatim from a similar Ukrainian law, Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairman of the parliamentary faction, stated. But since the Ukrainian version includes a “council”, which does not exist in Georgia, changes have been made.

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Deoligarchization is one of the EU’s twelve points put forward for Georgia to become a candidate member.

“In order to eliminate excessive influence in the economic, political and social spheres, the obligation of ‘deoligarchization must be fulfilled,” the recommendation says.

The Parliament of Georgia adopted the law on deoligarchization in the first reading on November 3. The bill was supported by 80 deputies, with nine opposed.

The bill was prepared by a special working group and defines an oligarch as a person with significant economic and political weight in public life. According to the document, an individual who meets at least three of four criteria is to be considered an oligarch:

• participates in political life;
• has a significant impact on the media;
• beneficial ownership of a company that occupies a dominant position in the market or maintains or improves it during the year;
• the confirmed amount of personal or company assets is one million times higher than the cost of living for Georgia.

Identification of oligarchs in Georgia