“If any fund is opaque, it is precisely the United States’ National Endowment for Democracy Foundation, NED,” this is how the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, responded to the statement of the head of NED that the finances of their programs are transparent.
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Papuashvili calls on the organization to disclose to the “Georgian people” what projects they are financing.
“When they say that they are helping the Georgian people, no one tells the Georgian people what they are helping them for. Unfortunately, it has not been made public until now. Projects funded by them are hidden and, unfortunately, are not made public. This, of course, does not meet any standards of transparency. It does not meet the American or any standard, even the lowest standard of transparency,” said Shalva Papuashvili to the journalists.
According to the Speaker of the Parliament, NED finances party-affiliated non-governmental organizations. “This is a non-governmental organization headed by Natia Mezvrishvili, the leader of the oppositional For Georgia party, it was founded. This is, for example, the Soviet past research laboratory (SOVLAB), where Giorgi Kandelaki is the leader. These are, for example, For the People and Progress Center, founded by Anna Dolidze. The founders and leaders of all these NGOs are politicians and party leaders. All these party leaders put money in their pockets from abroad,” Papuashvili said.
On March 6, Imedi and Rustavi 2 TV channels broadcasted the comments of Kenneth Volak, the chairman of NED, in which he denies the fund's financing of political parties in Georgia.
“Civil society groups have the right to be involved in political processes. If they are members of a political party or fight for political power, they are no longer civil society organizations. NED's activities include supporting civil society organizations, not political parties. If a civil society organization chooses to become a political party, then NED will not support it. I have not seen evidence that a civil organization finances a political party. NED-supported organizations do not really fund political parties,” said Volak, who attended the Rondel Security Conference in Tbilisi.
The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia accuses foreign donor organizations of illegal financing of Georgian political parties and interference in elections. A few days ago, he attacked the organization founded by the European Union - the European Endowment for Democracy, EED. As Shalva Papuashvili said, “It doesn't matter where the interference comes from. There will be interference from Russia, interference will be from the territory of Russia, the territory of the European Union, or the United States of America; any interference is interference in the election of the Georgian people”.
