The Tbilisi City Court has granted the lawsuit of influential judges Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Sergo Metofishvili, and Vasil Mshvenieradze. As a result, the Anti-Corruption Bureau will not be able to check their property declarations at this stage. Two of these judges, Mikheil Chinchaladze and Levan Murusidze, have been sanctioned by the US State Department for "involvement in significant corruption."
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"On January 12, 2024, an independent commission established by the Anti-Corruption Bureau selected 300 officials, including 27 judges, whose asset declarations were to be verified in 2024. The commission made this decision based on criteria of high public interest and a high risk of corruption.
Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Sergo Metofishvili, and Vasil Mshvenieradze were included in the list of selected individuals. These judges appealed to the Tbilisi City Court and requested that the minutes of the commission's session be declared invalid. Judges Leila Foladishvili, Valeriane Filishvili, Nino Buachidze, and Lela Mildenberger halted the examination of the declarations of Chinchaladze, Murusidze, Metofishvili, and Mshvenieradze. It should be noted that
among the 300 selected officials with political and professional positions, only the judges requested the suspension of the process of checking their property.
Judges administer justice on behalf of Georgia, and the justice sector is one of the most vulnerable to corruption. At the same time, a considerable amount of publicly available information, including the journalistic investigation by Studio Monitor, indicates the need for a thorough examination of the incomes of Mikheil Chinchaladze and Levan Murusidze.
A conscientious judge should have no objection to the anti-corruption bureau checking the information included in their declaration. The obstruction by the judges to the examination of their property status declarations raises reasonable doubt about the reliability of the information included in their declarations,“ Says a joint statement of the Association of Young Lawyers, International Transparency Georgia, and the Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information.
The organizations call on the Anti-Corruption Bureau to make public the lawsuits filed by the judges, as well as the interim acts adopted by the court, and to provide the public with complete information regarding the matter, which significantly undermines confidence in the court.
