32-year-old Sandro Kirvalidze has been appointed as the head of the Financial Declaration Department, which was established to enforce the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents within the National Public Registry Agency.
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Based on an order from Georgia's Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze, the Department of Financial Declarations and the position of its head were established at the end of July. The new agency's structural units include the Registration Service and the Declaration Monitoring Service. The Registration Service will be led by 28-year-old Tinatin Ghugunishvili, while the Declaration Monitoring Service will be headed by 34-year-old Irakli Kervalishvili.
As per information published on the National Public Registry Agency's website, Sandro Kirvalidze holds a master's degree in law from Ilia State University and has been employed in the Ministry of Justice's public registry since 2015. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as a freelance employee with the Archive Service of the National Public Registry Agency. He served as a specialist in the Centralized Registration Service of the Property Registration Department from 2017 to 2020, as a registrar of the Registration Service from 2020 to 2021, and as the manager of the Real Estate Registration Service from 2021 until August 1, 2024. Sandro Kirvalidze is fluent in English and Russian.
Tinatin Ghugunishvili and Irakli Kervalishvili are also lawyers. From the end of 2018 to August 2024, Ghugunishvili worked as a lawyer in the legal department of the National Public Registry Agency, first in the Administrative Proceedings Service and then in the Court Relations Service. Kervalishvili began as an intern at the National Public Registry Agency in 2013 and has held various managerial positions in recent years. Since May 2022, he has been the manager of the Innovation and Quality Management Service of the Administrative Department, and since May 2024, he has been the manager of the Real Estate Registration Service of the Property Registration Department.
On May 28, despite international partner calls and thousands of protests, the parliamentary majority of Georgian Dream overrode the president's veto and adopted the Russian Law. This law designates all non-governmental and media organizations that receive more than 20% of their income from international grants as carriers of foreign interests.
Organizations must apply to the National Public Registry Agency for registration as so-called agents by the end of August. Failure to register or submit a financial declaration will result in a fine of 25 000 GEL. The law also stipulates fines of 10 000 and 20 000 GEL for non-compliance with the Ministry of Justice's requirements.
The Russian Law is currently being challenged in the Constitutional Court. If the court does not suspend the law's implementation, some of its sanctions will come into effect on September 3.
