According to Transparency International Georgia (TI), current and former co-owners, as well as directors of eight licensed truck parking facilities (TIR parks) located near customs checkpoints, are representatives of the ruling Georgian Dream party and their affiliates. The NGO reports that since 2014, they have donated a total of 1,991,000 lari to Georgian Dream and Salome Zourabichvili, the presidential candidate supported by the party at the time.
There are a total of 35 licensed TIR parks in Georgia, located near nine customs checkpoints: Sarpi, Kazbegi, Red Bridge, Sadakhlo (road), Lagodekhi, Guguti, Ninotsminda, Vale, and Kartsakhi.
According to the organization:
- At the TIR park located near the Sarpi customs checkpoint in Batumi, a 50% stake is owned by Georgian Dream MP and major party donor Giorgi Chkhonia. Individuals associated with the company have donated 797,000 lari to Georgian Dream and Salome Zourabichvili since 2014.
- At the TIR park near the Red Bridge, the former co-owners of the company TIR Park Marneuli 2014 are Natia Khvistani—wife of Viktor Japaridze, an MP from the People’s Power party and founder of the propaganda channel PosTV—and businessman Otari Chartolani, who is close to their family. In 2016–2018, they donated 208,000 lari to Georgian Dream and Salome Zourabichvili.
- At the TIR parks near Guguti and Sadakhlo, the co-owners and directors of Guguti Vertex and Park Vertex are businessmen and brothers Giorgi and Roman Abramishvili, who are close to Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze and former Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri. Since 2018, they have donated 774,000 lari to Georgian Dream and Salome Zourabichvili.
- At the TIR park near Lagodekhi, a 30% former stake in the company New Georgia belonged to businessman Mindia Sabanadze, an active supporter of Georgian Dream, who donated 100,000 lari to the party in 2016–2017.
According to the Georgian government, since 2014, to manage queues at customs checkpoints and prevent delays, cargo trucks—whether empty or loaded—are required to park at special border parking facilities, known as TIR parks, which are licensed by the Revenue Service and connected to an electronic queue management system.
The service cost is 80 lari per trailer. Under the regulations, drivers receive no additional services other than queue management. In the event of non-payment, trucks are prohibited from moving toward the border and subsequently crossing it, which is monitored by the patrol police.