Mamuka Mdinaradze, one of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has linked the allegations made by former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to the uncompromising anti-corruption campaign being waged by the Kobakhidze–Mdinaradze team.
“Let me not speak about his motives and goals; I will refrain. The man is in prison, and it would not be entirely proper for me to go on the offensive right now. However, I can say one thing with absolute sincerity: when I personally and other government officials took such an uncompromising stand against corruption, we were prepared for the fact that such accusations—and perhaps even worse—have been, are being, and will continue to be voiced. If you, as a government representative, are not ready for this, then you will neither be able to declare war on corruption, nor get things done, nor ensure effective operational governance,” Mdinaradze stated.
He also touched upon “problems lingering from past years, which resulted from corruption-related crimes and have been left to us today as a regrettable legacy.”
According to Mdinaradze, in every region he visited, he encountered a number of facilities—whether bridges, roads, water supply systems, or gas infrastructure—that remain unfinished or were poorly executed due to certain contractors.
“I warn them: they should not abuse our goodwill and must complete the projects initiated in the regions on time and with high quality… This is also a distinct avenue of corruption. We are ready for accusations; the main thing is that they lack any real basis. We will survive this and much more, and we will not retreat a single step in the fight against corruption… When a person goes on the attack and makes groundless, contradictory statements, I will try not to delve into his true motives today. One cannot seriously discuss such things and speculate on how many more attacks will be leveled against us because of the fight against corruption,” Mdinaradze emphasized.
On August 17, former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili published a letter on social media. The former head of government claimed that, on the instructions of Bidzina Ivanishvili, he had received a message in prison offering to take the blame in a new corruption case. Garibashvili placed full responsibility for his safety and the safety of his family on Ivanishvili and the authorities, and announced the release of a more detailed letter the following day.
However, in the letter published on August 18, Garibashvili did not mention the founder of Georgian Dream. Instead, Mamuka Mdinaradze’s name appeared in the statement: according to Garibashvili, the message he made public on Facebook on August 17 had been sent to him in July by Mdinaradze himself.
Garibashvili recounted that on that same day, he communicated his position to Mdinaradze and “reaffirmed” that he had no intention of returning to politics. Furthermore, “in order to hedge against the specified ‘risk,'” he presented his own vision.
According to the letter, in response “he was told” that “there still remains a 1% risk of his return to politics.” Garibashvili claimed that the corruption charges were brought against him specifically to neutralize this risk. The former prime minister stated that he was “being forced to take up the fight.”
