Georgia: Former Saakashvili Ally Accuses Government Officials of Murder, Corruption

In a move long anticipated by Georgian media outlets, former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili formally declared his opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili, alleging that the Georgian leader requested the "liquidation" of certain individuals and that he has overseen the creation of a state with "fascist tendencies."

With former members of the ruling National Movement Party standing behind him, Okruashvili on September 25 announced the formation of his political party, the Movement for United Georgia. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The former minister's accusations were sparse, with questions referred to a television broadcast scheduled for later on September 25.

"The style of Saakashvili's governance, which has gone beyond the limits, has made dishonesty, injustice and oppression a way of life," he said in an English-language transcript of the statement posted on Civil.ge. Property destruction, robberies and murders "have become common practice for the authorities."

Okruashvili, without going into specifics, alleged that Saakashvili "not once, but several times" ordered the liquidation of "certain influential and important people, but I never agreed to this."

The present political atmosphere, he alleged, stifles criticism of the administration, as well as public debate. Opponents, he said, "are denounced as enemies of the state, and naturally the government does not launch any dialogue with them."

Okruashvili also took aim at Saakashvili's highly touted anti-corruption campaign, terming it "illusory." Okruashvili suggested that officials selectively targeted individuals for corruption probes, tending to protect friends of the administration from investigations. "[P]eople, who have accumulated millions over the past four years, still hold seats in the government," he charged.

Among the more sensational allegations on this front is a claim that the president in 2004 had asked Okruashvili, then interior minister, to release Saakashvili's uncle, Temur Alasania, from custody after he was arrested on extortion charges.

His comments made September 25 were Okruashvili's first aired in public since he resigned his cabinet post in November 2006. [For background see the Eurasia insight archive].

Saakashvili, who is in the United States, did not immediately respond to the accusations. He is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 26. His press office declined to comment. In a televised press conference, however, Giga Bokeria, a parliamentarian close to the president, denounced the accusations as "absurd" and "dirty."

"If I hadn't been watching television and seen Okruashvili, I would have thought it was [Labor Party leader] Shalva Natelashvili or [former security chief] Igor Giorgadze or Russian politicians," he said. Natelashvili is a flamboyant opposition leader often given to conspiracy theories; Giorgadze, in exile in Russia, is wanted in Georgia for an alleged assassination attempt against former President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Bokeria attributed the former defense minister's accusations to his alleged anger over the recent arrest of several officials from Okruashvili's home region of Shida Kartli on charges of corruption, bribery and fraudulent business practices. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The administration may be tight-lipped on Okruashvili's comments, but official actions are speaking perhaps louder than words. On September 25, the government brought charges of financial irregularities against another individual believed to be close to Okruashvili. Presidential spokesperson and parliamentary secretary Dmitri Kitoshvili, a former law partner of Okruashvili, was taken into custody for allegedly paying below market-rate prices for shares in mobile phone company GeoCell. According to Deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia, Kitoshvili had claimed at the time that he was acting on behalf of the National Movement Party. In a recording of his interrogation played by news channels, Kitoshvili denied knowledge of the payment's details.

At the same time, tax officials announced the launch of an investigation into what they claim was an underreported value for the building that houses Okruashvili's office in downtown Tbilisi.

The presidential press office declined comment on Kitoshvili's arrest. Opposition members have presented Kitoshvili and the Shida Kartli officials' arrests as part of campaign to muzzle Okruashvili, once one of the Georgian president's closest allies. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In his statement, Okruashvili said that he remained in the cabinet long after he would have liked, adding that he held off resigning out of "my sense of civic responsibility" and to avoid creating the appearance of political division. Military officers, he continued, "argued that our enemy should not be allowed to see us divided."

In response to Okruashvili's comments, some Tbilisi residents reacted with skepticism, while others voiced cautious support. "You have to ask yourself," mused one elderly Tbilisi resident who gave his name as Zurab, "in whose interest is all of this?"