Press Digest 03.07.14
Nomenclature trafficking within the Civil Registry -- they are contriving different corrupt schemes behind Tea Tsulukiani’s back – former CR official
Legal proceedings must also be brought against those at the helm of the City Park – Jaba Samushia
Is an electricity price hike expected?***
Nomenclature trafficking within the Civil Registry -- they are contriving different corrupt schemes behind Tea Tsulukiani’s back – former CR official
“First of all, I will underscore that the people who exerted vigorous efforts to strip Mr. Ivanishvili of his citizenship have retained their posts thus far. They had agreed on everything beforehand. As you yourself guess this is an extremely delicate issue and all materials in terms of it would have, apparently, been destroyed if they ever existed at all. However, it is unimaginable not to impose political responsibility on the head of the department… Because of some tenuous reasons, those high officials having played a major role in illegally stripping Bidzina Ivanishvili off his citizenship have become shadowy figures. Everyone has deflected attention of them, and everyone has forgotten to institute a case against these people,” announces former employ of the Civil Registry, Irakli Kveladze, in his interview with the Alia gazette.
“A number of the registry officials have expressed their overt dissatisfaction over the violation of the terms of the agreement. This fact made me take on the obligation to meet with Tea Tsulukian and introduce her to the problems of the officials of the registry. We faced different problems at every turn – they made us do overtimes at the weekend, they hardly gave us vacations and, obviously, such kind of treatment has irritated us. So, I met with Ms. Tsulukiani and asked her to tackle this issue, however, shortly after this meeting I was fired. I cannot say what made them come to this decision. A case has already been filed at the Court, and I hope that all the questions regarding this matter will be answered soon,” declares Irakli Sesiashvili.
“I have passed all information on to the Minister; I have let her know about our unbearable treatment. I informed her how they forced us to meekly follow their directives, how they oppressed us and breached our inviolable rights under the former Government. Because of a lack of oxygen within the building, my coworkers fainted every now and again. Technical faults deprived us of the possibility to accomplish our entrusted duties,” maintains former Civil Registry employee and to the question of whether or not Tsulukiani was on top of the situation within the body, he replies:
“We can assume that she fell short of the information. Simply imagine, the people who have to sustain their families and who have no other choice but to comply with their instructions and systematically do overtime … This is a sweatshop; something like trafficking... We were kept in socially unacceptable working conditions and were forced to work for peanuts… but we had no other way out … Tsulukiani may really lack information regarding this issue … She must be extremely naïve and gullible if she believes that those officials who stripped the leader of her team of his Georgian citizenship are generous and honest. I do assure Ms. Tsulukiani that they have brewed different corrupt schemes behind her back!” concludes the respondent.
Legal proceedings must also be brought against those at the helm of the City Park – Jaba Samushia
"Years ago, I asserted that an agreement between the City Hall and the City Park was suspicious – numerous signs making us question the integrity of its drafters surfaced long ago. I, as a member of the Tbilisi City Hall, have strained to get hold of the compete version of the document. Years passed by and some amendments were proposed to this deal that was later classified as secret. The have made arbitrary decision by keeping the public document under seven seals. I urged them to send me the document; however, they refused by declaring that the document was classified,” states member of the majority, Jaba Samushia in his interview with the Rezonansi gazette.
"Actually, this is an official revenue list that is accounted within the budget. The financial resources of the City Park were unaccounted for though… And still, what kind of steps have the City Park officials taken to arrange our infrastructure? They just painted some buildings and marked the city roads. That’s all. Should we give credit to them for their “zealous” work or for their ardent enthusiasm to tackle the problems of the city? Do they deserve 40 per cent of our city’s revenue for this?.. And after all this aforementioned, my colleagues from the National Movement have dared to issue utterly incompetent and ridiculous statements. I hold strongly that legal proceedings must be brought against everyone who is involved in this case,” declares Jaba Samiushia.
To the question if a case is expected to be brought against other officials besides Ugulava, the respondent answers:
“It’s troublesome for me to give you concrete names of those people who must face charges. However, incontestable is the fact that all the people who have been in any way involved in this case must be given their due. Those at the helm of the City Park must also be incriminated. In this particular case, we have to deal with two types of offenders – those, who hatched this scheme and those, who were involved in it. A myriad of questions has swirled round this case, and they must undoubtedly be answered.”
“They have embezzled around 10 million GEL -- all this money has been channeled into pockets of some inpiduals. It’s without question that this document will be publicized one day. We all will be endowed with detailed information regarding this issue, and it will become clear that corruption was rife within the City Hall. This will presumably thwart some high officials in using their positions only for their well-being,” concludes the respondent.
Is an electricity price hike expected?
In autumn, electricity cost may go up again. Energo Pro has already submitted a report to SEMEC on the necessity of reconsidering this issue. On top of that, the tariffs for electricity produced by the “Khram” Hydro Plants are also expected to increase from 2 to 8 tetris. However, As the Rezonansi gazette has been informed within SEMEC, at this point in time, the issue of boosting electricity cost has not been thrown into the mix so far,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
"Under our acting legislation, SEMEC is entitled to establish household costs for gas, water and electricity. However, we know perfectly well that very often our politicians set these tariffs. For instance, under the former rule, our top officials presented different investors with these costs without agreeing on this issue with SEMEC. In addition, Georgian Dream issued a promise on reducing these costs at their own discretion. Accordingly, if under the former Government, decreasing these costs was unimaginable, today this task has become realizable. However, as the Energy Ministry claims, SEMEC is an independent body and we must wait for its decision; and if it happens that the utility tariffs are increased, the Energy Ministry will bring up this argument again,” the article says.
“As for the hike in distribution tariffs for “Khram” Hydro Power Stations, until April 2011, Inter Rao was entitled to preside over Khram Plant-1 and Khram Hydro Plant -2; however, in April 2011, the then authorities of Georgia transferred the ownership of these hydro plans to Russian companies. And they have completed a new memorandum on new tariffs for electricity. To define this more precisely, from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2018, the price of electricity produced by the Khram Hydro Plant -1 will increase from 2.3 tetri to 8.2 tetri; likewise, the hike in the electricity price is expected to be detected from the Khram Hydro Plant-2,” reads the paper.
“From September 1, they will reconsider the electricity tariffs by the Energo Pro Georgia. As they claim within SEMEC, the electricity cost reconsideration process does not necessarily imply its increase. The company is simply obliged to rethink this issue and establish new electricity tariffs. It should also be noted that SEMEC has already followed through with the elaboration of the new methodology for establishing a new price for electricity; and as they claim the newly outlined methodology is in full compliance with the internationally established standards and norms,” writes the author of the article.
“We have drawn up a new methodology for setting electricity tariffs. The electricity price established by Energo Pro Georgia will also be geared to this methodology. The body has already filed a report at the commission. The report is being subjected to a thorough analysis at this point. When this analysis is seen through, the commission will provide the solution to the electricity price issue. The increase in electricity distribution tariffs will apparently have its affect on utility tariffs. However, we do not know whether or not the electricity bills will rise,” concludes Gocha Shonia.
