Transparency International reviews multimillion-dollar gifts received by Georgian officials
Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) says it is continuing to examine gifts declared by Georgian public officials. According to the organisation’s latest findings, 379 officials received gifts worth a combined 24 million lari (about $8.7m) between September 2025 and April 2026.
The report says the gifts included cash, real estate, cars, firearms and jewellery.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili commented on the findings, accusing the organisation of manipulating the data.
Real estate and cash gifts
According to TI Georgia, public officials most commonly receive gifts in the form of real estate.
Between September 2025 and April 2026, 100 officials received property worth more than 12 million lari (about $4.35m) in total. The gifts included 48 residential properties and 69 land plots.
During the same period, 233 officials received cash gifts worth a combined 11 million lari (about $4m). The average cash gift amounted to around 47,000 lari (about $17,000) per recipient. However, 28 officials declared cash gifts exceeding 100,000 lari (about $36,000).
The report also found that some of the cash gifts were declared in foreign currencies. Of the 11 million lari worth of cash gifts, the equivalent of 5.6 million lari (about $2.03m) was declared in US dollars, while 1.7 million lari (about $616,000) was declared in euros.
The list of declared gifts also included 28 cars and six firearms.
According to the organisation, public officials received most of the gifts from family members.
The report says parents accounted for 60.78% of the total value of the gifts, equivalent to 14.9 million lari (about $5.4m).
Officials received gifts worth 4.3 million lari (about $1.56m) from siblings, 2.4 million lari (about $870,000) from other relatives and 1.3 million lari (about $471,000) from their children.
Interior Ministry officials received the highest-value gifts
According to the report, officials from 158 different public institutions declared gifts.
Interior Ministry employees received gifts with the highest combined value. Forty-six officials declared gifts worth a total of 2.3 million lari (about $833,000).
The Foreign Ministry ranked second, with its employees declaring gifts worth a combined 2 million lari (about $725,000).
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture came third. Nine officials from the ministry declared gifts worth a total of 1.6 million lari (about $580,000).
Who received the most valuable gifts
TI identified the 10 public officials who declared the highest-value gifts.
The list is topped by Tamar Dolidze, deputy head of the Internal Audit Department at the Foreign Ministry, who declared a gift worth 930,060 lari (about $337,000).
She is followed by Demur Sulaberidze, former chair of the Khoni Municipal Council commission, with a gift worth 900,000 lari (about $326,000).
Third is Zurab Gozalishvili, director of the Rural Development Agency, who declared a gift worth 800,000 lari (about $290,000).
The remaining officials in the top 10 are:
- Health Minister Mikheil Sarjveladze – 500,000 lari (about $181,000);
- First Deputy Defence Minister Paata Patiashvili – 446,080 lari (about $162,000);
- Deputy Foreign Minister Khatuna Totladze – 408,000 lari (about $148,000);
- Kakhaber Gavasheli, deputy head of Tbilisi’s Saburtalo district administration – 408,000 lari (about $148,000);
- Nino Mdinaradze, member of the Presidium of the State Audit Service – 389,677 lari (about $141,000);
- Sandro Tsabutashvili, former senior official at the Interior Ministry’s Patrol Police Department – 377,800 lari (about $137,000);
- Tinatin Medzmarishvili, head of the State Procurement Department at the Ministry of Regional Development – 338,750 lari (about $123,000).
Shalva Papuashvili: “This is manipulation and a farce”
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said the figures relate to declared gifts and that it was wrong to portray them as illicit income.
“There are tens of thousands of public officials. Adding together gifts from a husband to his wife, from a child to a parent or from a parent to a child, and presenting them as headline figures is manipulation and a farce,” Papuashvili said.
He argued that if officials had obtained money or property illegally, they would not have declared it.
“We are talking about declared gifts. If something were illegal income, no one would declare it. If it has been included in an asset declaration, how can it be illegal income?” he said.
Papuashvili also criticised TI Georgia, describing the organisation as “a tool of hybrid warfare” against the country. He said the organisation’s sources of funding should be made public and that foreign funding should be discussed transparently.
“Whoever is funding Transparency International today is waging hybrid warfare against Georgia,” Papuashvili claimed.
TI Georgia, for its part, said the research was based on information disclosed by public officials in their asset declarations. The organisation said the study aimed to identify financial interests and potential corruption risks in the public sector.
Transparency International’s report on Georgia
