The Business of Government

End of project reportJuly 2014 – August 2015

Summary This reporting period has seen a number of important outcomes:

1. Improved anti-corruption framework: TI Georgia’s advocacy contributed to vital positive changes in the country’s anti-corruption legislation, including the introduction of a verification procedure for the asset declarations of public officials and stronger protection for whistleblowers, as well as the adoption of an improved National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan.

2. Advocating for legislative changes in the Parliament: TI Georgia provided comprehensive analysis of over 20 draft laws initiated in the Parliament. Two of these are particularly noteworthy. Firstly, on August 2014, the Parliament, heeding to TI Georgia’s recommendations on the surveillance law, adopted a version of the bill that balanced human rights, including the right to privacy, the principles of a democratic society and state security concerns. Secondly, responding to concerns of the public, TI Georgia hosted a successful stakeholder engagement event with over 40 foreign guests. Based on comments, TI Georgia wrote a comprehensive paper on existing problems in the new visa regulations and specific recommendations for improvement. The Ministry of Justice took into consideration recommendations of TI Georgia, including a call for expanding the visa free staying term for the countries of certain states.

3. New regulations for the banking and finance sector: TI Georgia engaged with representatives of the National Bank of Georgia and various commercial banks and elaborated on joint recommendations; including that tax authorities cannot request information on an individual who is not the subject of an open investigation, and providing an individual with the right to appeal. As a result, all recommendations were taken into account and the law has been passed.

4. Government surveillance: In August of 2014, the Parliament, heeding to TI Georgia’s recommendations and main points of concern, adopted a version of the bill that balanced human rights, including the right to privacy, the principles of democratic society and state security concerns. The result was a set of new regulations which significantly bolstered personal data protection and provided for a clearer procedure for initiating surveillance. However, in November of 2014, the Parliament adopted new amendments in the surveillance law which left access and management of surveillance data entirely in the hand of Ministry of Foreign Affairs without effective judiciary or regulatory oversight. The President used his veto power, however, it was overridden by the Parliament.

5. Promoting transparency, accountability and citizen engagement: TI Georgia was part of the first parliamentary inter-faction working group, composed of faction and civil society representatives which drafted the first Open Parliament Action Plan for the Parliament. Out of the 18 commitments in the Open Parliament Action Plan, 6 were drafted by TI Georgia. The Action Plan has been approved by all Parliamentary factions and approved by the Parliamentary bureau. The commitments are to be implemented over 2015-2016. TI Georgia will continue to systematically monitor these processes and be actively engaged in the work of the inter-faction working group. Moreover, the Parliament has taken into consideration a number of recommendations from TI Georgia’s annual Parliamentary Performance Report, such as improving the usability and accessibility of information on the official parliamentary webpage and boosting the amount of timely and precisely published parliamentary information.

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6. Helped safeguard the independence of the Supreme Audit Office: TI Georgia helped alleviate unwarranted pressure on the SAO by demonstrating the depth and breadth of Supreme Audit Office (SAO) audits in 2013, calling into question findings of the provisional parliamentary commission, which was an important contribution to safeguarding the independence of the Supreme Audit Office.

7. Helped raise public awareness against the changes to the law on National Bank stripping the National Bank of its banking supervision functions by showing how the move would prevent the institution from fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

8. Increased Transparency of local municipalities: TI Georgia’s regional staff advocacy activities have led to the City Councils in several municipalities to increase their budgets for homeless and socially vulnerable persons. Particular improvements were made in Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Kobuleti, Batumi, Abasha municipalities, where local administration started to proactively disseminate public information related to social services, city council decisions and budget.

9. Increased citizen’s engagement on local issues: TI Georgia Batumi office has intervened with Adjaran government officials to improve citizen engagement and publication of information. Through a fora organized by the Batumi office representatives of the Adjarian government and the Ministry of Energy, the local public was informed about the plans related to infrastructure projects. During the forum, it was agreed that the local government will provide information about every detail of the project to the local residents prior to commencement of new works. Furthermore, the government will start to register all landowners in the regions and will start negotiations with those whose property might have been affected by the construction.

10. Improved internal regulations: TI Georgia Zugdidi office has been actively advocating to change the system of delivering bonuses to the local public servants. TI Georgia put forward a recommendation that before a bonus is issued to a public servant, a written justification should be required. In addition, a basic criteria for issuing bonuses was advocated by TI Georgia. As a result, the Zugdidi Council took into account our recommendations and adopted new rules which includes written reasoning/justification. Same success was achieved in six other municipalities in Samegrelo and Imereti.

11. Contributed to developing a fair and impartial public service in municipalities: TI Georgia successfully challenged illegal dismissal and prejudiced hiring practices of civil servants by local government authorities. As a result, 49 individuals were restored to their positions and/or have received compensation, and municipalities are required to duly justify their decision. In another important win, TI Georgia’s claim has resulted into a court decision requiring local municipality bodies to duly consider qualification exams in making hiring decisions. In addition, TI Georgia was able to see the impact of its capacity-building efforts and advocacy for improved internal governance in municipalities: 7 municipalities in Imereti and Samegrelo have changed their arbitrary practices and attached performance-based criteria for distribution of bonuses.

12. Restoration of Property Rights of Individuals: 48 cases were successfully challenged at various courts. As a result, some individuals were able to restore their property rights over the land plots which were lost due to technical barriers created at the Public Registry (Overlap). TI Georgia efforts contributed to the improved court practices in regards of the overlap issues (when individual’s property which has already been registered at the public registry is being registered by the state. As a result individual owner loses his/her property rights). Current court practice establishes the priority of the initial owner and obliges public registry to cancel state registration in favor of an individual

13. Revolving Door: Significant progress has been achieved in improving the regulatory framework of revolving door and the broader issue of insulating public administration from the undue influence of private interests. This year, the Government of Georgia submitted to the Parliament a set of amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest and Corruption in Service. These amendments reflect a number of recommendations proposed by TI Georgia and have been approved by the legislature in the second reading as of September 2015. Additionally, a new regulation mandating a ‘cooling off’ period after employment with a regulatory body was submitted to the Parliament in spring of 2015 as part of the anti-corruption package drafted by TI Georgia. Currently, we are in discussion with a number of MPs to secure their support for the package.

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14. High profile case monitoring: The rules for using pre-trial detention as a preventive measures have paved the way for abuse. This flaw has repeatedly caused problems in practice. For example, there were defendants, who were detained for more than one year without a guilty verdict rendered against them. In the past, this issue has been raised by TI Georgia on several occasions. Finally, when Gigi Ugulava’s (former Mayor of Tbilisi) attorneys have applied to the Constitutional Court with the request to declare rules on pretrial detention as unconstitutional, TI Georgia submitted amicus brief. On 16 September 2015 Constitutional Court of Georgia has rendered the decision, declaring that the application of multiple pretrial detentions when one detention can fully guarantee the aims of the pre-trial detention is unconstitutional. TI Georgia’s position has been fully shared by the court.

15. Increased transparency of judicial decisions: TI Georgia has created Supreme Court’s Most Important Interpretations Search System1. This system is publicly accessible and allows any stakeholder or interested individual to search for information on cases and interpretations of law, contributing to increased judicial accountability.

Lessons learntAcross the program there have been areas of greater progress, where outcomes have been fully achieved; and areas of lesser progress where obstacles have been met, outcomes not fully achieved and/or government has reacted in unforeseen ways. TI Georgia’s ability to respond to these issues lies in the flexibility of this program, and the ability to identify opportunities and quickly seize them.

1. Working in a personality-driven policy environmentAs large areas of the bureaucracy are still strongly personality-driven, TI Georgia has identified allies within Ministries and different branches of the Government. TI Georgia has set up offices in the regions and in the Parliament buildings in Tbilisi and Kutaisi to support its relationships with key figures and ability to react swiftly and appropriately to events as they occur. By working with these allies TI Georgia has been able to achieve change that would not have necessarily been possible otherwise.

Equally, TI Georgia has learnt to identify when the structures or personalities are particularly resistant to change. With these organizations TI Georgia uses public pressure, monitoring and reporting to encourage them to open to us.

2. Responsiveness and flexibilityIn a complex and mostly polarized political environment, TI Georgia has learnt that responsiveness is often decisive. As a civil society organization, we are accountable to the public which expects us to react on the wrongdoings and concerning developments, even if these are not within our project activity plans, but are within our mandate. This also means where entry points are identified, we need to take advantage of them. The scope for our future work, therefore, needs to be broad, allowing us to act where and when we see opportunity, and not have overly prescribed areas of interaction.

3. Not overstretching our resourcesTI Georgia works on a large range of issues related to transparency and accountability across all branches and levels of the Government. This is important because accountability requires full systems of integrity that are mutually reinforcing. Even though responsiveness is vital, TI Georgia needs to prioritize and make sure that our work remains relevant to our core mandate. Working broadly is a strength but we need to be sure that we work comprehensively across the range of activities we implement.

4. Local legitimacyFor any civil society organization to be able to influence the public discourse on issues of importance, it needs to be seen as legitimate. TI Georgia has multiple audiences and multiple groups which we aim to influence to achieve good governance outcomes. This means that TI Georgia must maintain its legitimacy with a wide range of actors. Among TI Georgia’s international partners, legitimacy is maintained by the high quality of our analysis and advice that we provide on a range of issues within our mandate. For the Government, it is about providing sound, realistic

1 http://praqtika.supremecourt.ge/3

and workable recommendations based on solid research and evidence. With the Georgian public, it is about addressing issues of governance that are of concern to them.

In the upcoming years, we must make sure that our high level policy work does not prevent us from grassroots community organizing. We cannot succeed as an organization without local support, just as we cannot succeed without high level reform. This balance in our work and our outlook needs to be maintained.

5. Unexpected resultsWhile we have achieved much of what we set out to do at the beginning of the program, we have also had influence in unexpected areas. These impacts must also be captured in reporting and assessment. This includes hundreds of articles published in non-Georgian media and academic publications, and foreign government policy papers. TI Georgia’s work is contributing to the worldwide evidence base on good governance. It is being used for improvements procurement practices in Milan2 to being cited in-relation to media freedom3 and civil service reform.4

While our focus remains on the domestic audience, the value of our work to other organizations and researchers globally should not be neglected.

Parliamentary programOversight of the Parliament, parliamentary processes and legislative processes remains a high priority and area of concern. The Government still often fails to provide opportunity for stakeholders to review proposed legislation, does not consult widely, and provides exposure drafts too late to allow for public oversight. There are several worrying trends that we have noted in the operation of the Georgian Parliament at this time. These trends highlight inefficiencies in governance and a lack of commitment to engage with citizens on new legislation. In a number of instances, explanatory notes have not been provided with legislation which undermines both the Parliament’s and the public’s ability to act as an agent of accountability for the government’s actions. It also shows a level of disregard of the role of the Parliament by the Government. In addition, a range of laws that had previously introduced have had delays in their implementation.5 TI Georgia is working to address these weaknesses through discussions, advocacy and training which encourage systemic change within the parliamentary processes. At the same time, we are working to improve stakeholder engagement on issues of vital public concern as they arise.

Outcome: Strengthened citizens’ engagement in law-making process.During the reporting period, TI Georgia improved citizen engagement in the lawmaking process by identifying laws with wide and significant impact that could result in increased vulnerability to corruption and/or required higher levels of transparency in the decision making and implementation. We then provided opportunities for citizens to engage. TI Georgia provided a comprehensive analysis of over 20 draft laws initiated in the Parliament (a list of these laws is provided in Annex 1). The analysis of the laws significantly improved public awareness and involvement in the legislative process.

Our work identified and addressed poor planning and implementation on the new visa regulations introduced to cover foreigners working, studying or coming as tourists to Georgia which came into effect starting 1 September 2014. The new legislation was introduced without sufficient and timely information provided to employers, universities or foreign national residing, working and studying in Georgia. Responding to concerns of the public, TI Georgia hosted a very successful stakeholder engagement event with over 40 foreign guests on October 10. TI Georgia was able to clarify the scope of the legislation, which had not been properly communicated to affected parties, and we received useful feedback on implementation from them. Based on comments, TI Georgia wrote a comprehensive paper on existing problems in this regard and specific recommendations for improvement were made. Among these was a recommendation that aliens wishing to reside in Georgia should be able to apply for visas within Georgia, and not only in their country of citizenship. As a result, changes to the legislation to allow this was approved in November. Second part of recommendations were also taken into consideration by the Ministry of Justice in the Spring of 2015 expanding the visa free staying term for the countries of certain states.

2 http://mediagallery.comune.milano.it/cdm/objects/changeme:14015/datastreams/dataStream3921707453605432/content3 http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3861&context=etd4 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pad.1709/abstract http://www.sigmaweb.org/publications/ParradoDiezS-CS-Professionalisation-Nov2014.pdf5 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/delays-enactment-legislative-reforms-demonstrate-government-inefficiency

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New regulations for the banking and finance sector were proposed during the autumn session of the Parliament.6

Again, prior to the introduction of the regulatory proposal the Government had failed to sufficiently engage stakeholders and investigate potential impacts on the market. These proposed regulations would govern who had access to citizens’ confidential banking information and would have severely undermined the fundamental right to a fair trial and protection guaranteed by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The European Convention, and The Constitution of Georgia. The purpose of the law was to amend current legislation, which does not include legal proceedings related to obtaining of confidential information by the tax authority from banking or other financial institutions. On October 7 TI Georgia engaged with representatives of the National Bank of Georgia and various commercial banks. We elaborated joint recommendations; including that tax authorities cannot request information on an individual who is not the subject of an open investigation, and providing an individual with the right of appeal. These recommendations were sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Parliament. The coalition of civil society, the National Bank of Georgia and the private sector provided for a strong platform for advocacy. TI Georgia engaged with the Ministry of Finance about both technical aspects of the legislation and with a focus on rights-based government.7 As a result, all recommendations have been taken into consideration by the author of the draft law, and it has been passed. One concern remains in relation to a clause on international obligations; it is possible we will take the issue to the Constitutional Court to adjudicate the issue.

After the Parliamentary budget committee proposed changes to the Law on the National Bank in spring of 2015 to establish a new agency for financial supervision, in our publications, broadcast and print media interviews TI Georgia showed how the changes would prevent the National Bank from exercising the powers conferred on it by the constitution. In our amicus brief8, which aimed to support the constitutional plea by 39 MPs, TI Georgia presented additional arguments against stripping the National Bank of its banking supervision functions. We showed how the attempt to take away banking supervision functions from the NBG aims to weaken the National Bank, which was prompted by political considerations rather than the actual needs of the financial system.

We believe that through cooperation with 39 MPs as well as a coalition of other NGOs, TI Georgia will succeed in overturning the changes to the legislation to strip the National Bank of its banking supervision functions.

On-going advocacy around Government surveillance, and amendments to the related laws have continued to be a feature of TI Georgia’s work in the Parliament and with the public. During the reporting period several new versions of the law on surveillance were proposed. TI Georgia was present at all possible working meetings and was active in voicing the organization’s position on the draft law. On 31 August 2014, the Parliament, heeding to TI Georgia’s recommendations9 and main points of concern, adopted a version of the bill that balanced human rights, including the right to privacy, the principles of a democratic society and state security concerns.10 TI Georgia based its recommendations on the analysis of European best practice. The result was a set of new regulations which significantly bolstered personal data protection and provided for a clearer procedure for initiating surveillance.11

However, on 31 November 2014 the Parliament adopted a new legislative initiative sponsored by parliamentary majority MPs Eka Beselia, Irakli Sesiashvili and Gedevan Popkhadze. The new initiative undermined the high human rights standards set by the 1 August 2014 laws.12,13 The new bill left access and management of surveillance data entirely in the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) without any judicial or regulatory oversight. The President used his veto power for only the second time in his presidency to overturn Parliament’s decision to leave the ‘key’ with MIA.14 The first time the President used his veto was also on the surveillance issue, demonstrating the

6 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/tax-authorities-obtain-unlimited-access-confidential-banking-information-07 http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/ti-georgia-s-response-statement-ministry-finance8 Amicus brief is presented is someone who is not a party to a case and offers information that bears on the case, but who has not been solicited by any of the parties to assist a court. 9 http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/affects-you-too-campaign-responds-prime-minister10 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/european-best-practices-government-telecommunications-surveillance11 http://dfwatch.net/georgia-introduces-stricter-regulation-of-secret-surveillance-1420212 http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/government-should-take-urgent-political-decision-to-address-the-issue-of-direct-access-surveillance13 http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/affects-you-beselia-popkhadze-sesiashvilis-draft-step-backwards-protection-civil-liberties14 http://dfwatch.net/georgian-president-vetoes-surveillance-bill-again-38696

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level of public interest and concern over unrestrained government surveillance. However, there were sufficient votes to overturn the veto and approve the legislation – leaving MIA with direct access to the networks of telecommunications operators. TI Georgia and the coalition of NGOs involved in the This Affects You campaign have made public statements and held a protest in the center of the capital to demonstrate civil society’s concern about the on-going surveillance and lack of appropriate controls.15 The public campaign and lobbying of MPs and government officials on this issue is on-going, and This Affects You has challenged the 31 November 2014 provisions in the Constitutional Court.

There have been positive signs of improved pro-active stakeholder engagement from the Parliament. For example, on the work to improve land registration, the Parliament has worked to include a range of important stakeholders. In September of 2014, TI Georgia started active cooperation with the National Agency of the Public Registry (the institution responsible for land registration). A special working group has been created, involving representatives of TI Georgia, the Public Registry and the Ministry of Justice. The group started to work on the regulation of unregistered agricultural lands. The aim of the project was to draft the policy and subsequently the relevant legislation regulating and organizing the registration of agricultural lands that are actually in the possession of individuals, but are not yet duly registered in the cadastre. TI Georgia has identified 17 main problems through practice and advocacy on this issue over several years. These problems are significant obstacles for the land registration (especially in the regions). Public Registry representatives have agreed on all of them.

In December of 2014, the working group produced special regulations that cover the issue and will effectively solve the identified problems of the land registration. These regulations have been presented to the relevant Ministry, which has approved the draft law, but has not been yet submitted it to the Parliament.

Throughout the reporting period TI Georgia’s parliamentary team attended numerous working meetings and committee hearings and provided expertise and recommendations. Noteworthy cases include:

● TI Georgia’s recommendations were reflected in the final version of the Law on Migration – the provision prioritizing Georgian citizens over foreigners during job interviews was removed.

● TI Georgia’s recommendations have also been taken into account during the drafting of the Draft Law on the Reform of the Ministry of Interior. Namely, the right of police to conduct secret video and audio surveillance was removed. Moreover, the law determined the scope and competences of the State Security in their work.

● During the discussions of Amendments to the Criminal Code, TI Georgia recommended that incitement to hatred should be punishable only when it causes a clear, direct and substantial risk of a lawless result. This recommendation was reflected in the final draft.

● TI Georgia also actively participated in the working group on the reforms of witness questioning, which was created by the legal issues committee. Moreover, TI Georgia had an active presence in inter-agency council, which elaborated reforms related to the prosecutor’s office.

Outcome: Increased parliamentary transparency and accountability of MPs.TI Georgia has continued to work on transparency and accountability of MPs activities through capacity development and oversight. TI Georgia recorded 35 podcasts in the reporting period which provide an overview of work conducted in the Parliament in the preceding week, and scheduled hearings for the following week. Notification of future scheduled hearings provided by the podcasts, whenever possible, helps citizens to engage through one of the formal official engagement mechanisms – committee hearings on proposed legislation. In general, podcasts contribute to improved public awareness of the activities of the Government, and thus work to promote transparency and accountability. To increase the audience, the podcast is also aired by two regional radio channels in Adjara and Imereti.

In the reporting period, the popularity of our parliament monitoring website myparliament.ge has significantly increased. After airing of our social TV ads, the unique daily visitors of the website has increased from about 10 visitors to over 300 visitors. The number of questions asked by the citizens to MPs has increased as well. In the reporting period 87 questions were asked, most of which were related to social benefits.

TI Georgia organized three rounds of two-day trainings for the staff of the majoritarian MPs’ bureaus during the reporting period. The aim of these workshops is to encourage transparency in the bureaus through an improved

15 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/nine-threats-your-personal-life-stemming-new-legislation-secret-wiretapping6

understanding of the purposes and legal obligations in relation to various transparency, accountability and anti-corruption initiatives. The training events aim at both awareness raising and capacity development. The first phase of trainings started in April 2014. In the beginning of April, two two-day trainings of similar content were held in Tbilisi and Batumi. The trainings covered issues such as verbal and written communication strategies, project writing and law-drafting techniques. The second round of trainings was held on 18-19 October 2014 in Tbilisi and on 25-26 October 2014 in Batumi and participant attendance and interest was very high. To assist bureaus with meeting the minimum legislated requirements of transparency, the training covered how to complete asset declarations (their purpose and what information must be provided); the essence of public information (legislation requirements and the essence of pro-active publication of information) and the importance of publicizing the work the bureau is engaged in (for transparency and accountability, but also to improve engagement with the constituency). In addition, corruption vulnerabilities have been identified in the lack of understanding around division of competences between the central and municipal governments. Training was provided on this topic to encourage MPs bureaus to not take on work that ought to be covered by municipality governments and to thus reduce the risk of inefficiencies or duplication in the local government. Such training was provided to help improve transparency of the work MPs bureaus are engaged in, but also because it was considered important to maintain positive relationships with these offices where possible. These topics were identified as being of importance to MP staff, and important for promoting good and responsive governance.

Promoting Open Governance and Open DataOutcome: Stronger commitments to openness by the Georgian government.The Georgian government over the period of The Business of Government project has made significant steps to improve openness: increasing response rates to FOI requests, publishing procurement processes, and improving the availability of data. Nonetheless, there are definite areas for improvement.

In September of 2014, Prime Minister Gharibashvili gave a speech16 at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) summit in New York. He noted the many advancements being made towards Open Government in Georgia. Following the speech, TI Georgia published an article reviewing the speech and the country’s overall progress toward implementing its OGP commitments.17 The article highlighted a number of areas where further progress is needed, including public participation in the legislative process, transparency of government sessions, and proactive release of public information. These areas remain a focus of our advocacy and engagement with the Government.

Government language around commitments to open governance and open data show that this outcome will be partially successful. Actions and stronger implementation of these verbal commitments are needed for this outcome to be considered fully successful.

As the implementation of OGP initiatives moved forward in the executive, there was an increasing need for involving representatives of the legislative branch. In May of 2015, Georgia became one of the few OGP participant countries that have endorsed an open parliament action plan. Also, in April of 2015, the Georgian Parliament signed and committed to the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness – a document that outlines best practices and standards in parliamentary transparency, accountability and open data use.

TI Georgia has been at the forefront of the legislative OGP from the very start. TI Georgia was part of the first parliamentary inter-faction working group, composed of faction and civil society representatives who drafted the first Open Parliament Action Plan for the Parliament. Out of the 18 commitments in the Open Parliament Action Plan, 6 were drafted by TI Georgia. These commitments concerned access to data, proactive disclosure of important documents, fine-tuning explanatory notes and using open proprietary formats for all documents posted on the parliamentary webpage. To further add onto the country’s success stories in OGP, TI Georgia co-organized with the Parliament and other CSOs the Global Legislative Openness Meeting18 in Tbilisi in September of 2015.

TI Georgia is also currently working on an Open Parliament Benchmarking Analysis – a report that will compare the practices of the Georgian state legislature to Georgian parliamentary practices. We expect the methodology and approach developed by us to be used as a template for other OGP countries. A number of public consultations on

16 http://pia.ge/show_news.php?id=23956&lang=eng17 http://transparency.ge/en/node/462818 http://openparlweek.org/

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the methodological component of the research has already been held with local NGOs in Georgia as well as with NDI DC office.

Outcome: Availability of open data increases research opportunities.Outcome: Public uses open data tools.Open data in Georgia has been lauded in the international community, as such the recent steps backward are both surprising and disappointing. In October 2014 National Agency of Public Registry added a CAPTCHA security code to the company search section on its website. The data is thus still publically available, but requires a human being to type in a code that cannot be read by a computer program. This means that data must be manually retrieved, rather than scrapped automatically and repackaged for analysis. Effectively, this constricts researchers’ ability to gather large quantities of data for statistical analysis.19 Companyinfo.ge scrapes the data from this website for analysis, due to the introduction of the CAPTCHA our website is out of date and no new analysis can be conducted with the data available there. TI Georgia and other data-focused NGOs are in discussions with the relevant public officials and the Public Registry about this restriction.

There has been increased public use from open data tools during the reporting period. This can be seen by outputs based on open data being created in civil society, (for example by JumpStart on gender issues 20) TI Georgia’s activities supported by other donors, such as the Media for Transparent and Accountable Governance (M-TAG) program has also been developing journalistic capacity and promoting the use of open data tools. Frequent request from journalists to support their research efforts emphasize this change.

As such, these outcomes have already been achieved. On-going reinforcement, capacity development, promotion and support is necessary to ensure the sustainability of this behavior change.

Promoting budget transparencyOutcome: Increased awareness and interest in budgeting principles and process among citizens.The budget transparency component of the year 3 program has included both formal and informal awareness raising activities. Activities included several analytical blogs on 2014 budgetary expenditure and reporting21 and on 2015 budget planning processes. Also, TI Georgia has engaged with parliamentarians and public servants to promote a better understanding of the role and work of the State Audit Office (SAO), based around findings in our report (published in May of 2014)22 that the parliamentary commission was unjustified in its harsh criticism of the work of the SAO. The Deputy Head of the Budget Committee referenced the report of TI Georgia when discussing the SAO, and it influenced the discussion with a range of other stakeholders.

TI Georgia published its report on Public Internal Financial Control System (PIFC) in July of 2014. 23 The research was conducted in year 2 of the Business of Government program and referenced in the annual report. The report looked at the state of public internal financial control in the 12 government ministries and Tbilisi government as well as the challenges and problems the PIFC system faced in 2010-2012 and a number of PIFC developments in 2013. TI Georgia singled out the worst and best performing ministries to illustrate problems on the one hand and best practices on the other. The research process was collaborative, and thus the findings and recommendations were not a surprise to the ministries covered by the report. Ministries have started taking actions to improve their control mechanisms in response to weaknesses we have identified; the Ministry of Defense have approached TI Georgia for advice and assistance in implementing proposed recommendations – we have been working closely with the Head of the Internal Audit section on this. Advocacy and discussions about implementation of the recommendations have been on-going with other ministries as well. The research and advocacy process has built awareness among civil servants of financial and budgeting principles, significantly contributing to the achievement of the outcome.

In July of 2014, TI Georgia called into question the findings of the provisional parliamentary commission point by point, which helped alleviate the pressure by the provisional parliamentary commission on the State Audit Office. The provisional parliamentary commission found the work of the State Audit Office in 2013 unsatisfactory and gave the Parliament a recommendation to that effect in its biased assessment of the work of the State Audit Office. We

19 http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/public-registry-s-security-code-limits-access-public-data20 Some of Jumpstart’s data visualizations, based on open data can be seen here: http://feradi.info/en/visualizations21 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/budget-execution-quarter-1-2-2014-underspending-public-funds-remains-serious-problem22 http://transparency.ge/en/node/444323 http://transparency.ge/en/node/4493

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found that the number of thorough and comprehensive audits in 2013, all of which were marked by the depth of inquiry, was the highest in a single year in the history of the Chamber of Control, SAO's predecessor. Our point-by-point analysis calling the parliamentary commission’s findings into question as well as user-friendly summaries of audits conducted by the State Audit Office of Georgia in 2013, which were earlier published by TI Georgia, was quoted by the First Deputy Head of the parliamentary budget committee at a majority faction meeting in July to dissuade majority faction members from putting further unwarranted pressure on the State Audit Office.

In March of 2015, TI Georgia challenged the Ministry of Finance on its 2014 budget deficit numbers, the related methodology and underspending of 2014 budget, which, following a series of press-conferences by the MoF and TI Georgia, resulted in the MoF publishing an accurate 2014 budget deficit.24

There have been some significant strides forward transparent budget planning processes. We found that the 2015 Tbilisi program budget appendix and partly 2014 Tbilisi program budget appendix represent a good step towards accountability and transparency, similarly to the program budget produced by the Government of Adjara last year. The Tbilisi City Hall program budget better meets government objectives and requirements on budget processes than the Georgian national budget or a number of other local government program budgets. 25 This is an important finding, and an important improvement as it will allow for clearer and more accountable budget expenditure and reporting. This work has further raised awareness of budgetary issues in Georgia.

In the reporting period, TI Georgia found an increasing amount of publications compared to previous years in Georgian media discussing the budget priorities for 2015. This is evidence towards the achievement of this outcome.

TI Georgia organized two rounds of one-day trainings on budget development and budget execution for the staff of the majoritarian MPs’ bureaus during the reporting period (29 April 2015 in Batumi attended by bureaus of Majoritarian MPs of Western Georgia and 1 May 2015 in Tbilisi attended by bureaus of Majoritarian MPs of Eastern Georgia). The trainings were aimed at enhancing parliamentary oversight by the bureaus of the majoritarian MPs, viz., to enable the bureaus to participate effectively in a transparent and inclusive annual budget cycle. The training covered budgeting, performance monitoring and measurement under program budgeting vs conventional budgeting, reading the executive’s budget proposal and budget execution reporting, estimates for a budget year and beyond, inclusive budgeting techniques, performance audit. The participants will be better positioned to examine both the executive’s budget proposal and the budget execution reporting and ask the right questions to understand where, when and how to intervene.

Outcome: Lawmakers or the Government formulate budget based on citizen feedback.Outcome: Government increases budget-related outreach to citizens.Work to promote citizen engagement in budgetary processes at the regional level was conducted by local office staff, who engaged with city halls throughout local processes. Zugdidi office has been working on the local budget. Our representatives have regularly attended meetings of the local council and provided recommendations and comments to the draft budget to ensure it reflects citizens’ priorities. This has included, for example, cutting funding to a privately funded school owned and operated by the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate.

Regional training events were scheduled to occur during the first six months, but were delayed as funding approval could not be provided for them in November and early December of 2014. The training materials have been developed, and training is being rescheduled for the second quarter of 2015. Despite delays in formal training, regional offices have engaged with local governments to support more transparent and equitable budget processes. These delays have resulted in our support to regions being reduced for the 2015 budget cycle, but will still allow support for the 2016 budget. It will not undermine the overall work done towards achieving this outcome.

24 On Think Tanks referred to the MoF-TI Georgia budget deficit dispute to argue that policy researchers [in Georgia] are taken seriously: “Just to provide one recent, rather specific, example, the Ministry of Finance felt the need to respond to a series of roughly 300 word blog posts from a Transparency International – Georgia analyst on the miscalculation of the budget deficit. While no doubt an important issue, 300 words on a blog caused a change in course – the government started calculating the budget deficit the way they were supposed to again.” See: http://onthinktanks.org/2015/09/28/thinking-about-think-tanks-in-the-south-caucasus-a-new-series/ 25 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/2015-tbilisi-budget-new-developments-and-problems

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Citizen engagement has been significantly improved, but it is mostly achieved through TI Georgia interceding on behalf of citizens. Government is not yet proactively seeking citizens’ feedback on budget decisions and processes. As such, the outcome has been partially achieved but requires on-going support and intervention for it to be fully achieved.

Outcome: Citizens use budgeting website to choose their budgeting preferences.TI Georgia began building the infographics and published a major report looking at government spending in 2012-2014 to visualize how government priorities have changed over the two years and examine how the Government of Georgia was going to finance these before the reporting period. During the reporting period, however, TI Georgia developed infographics and interactives to build public awareness around budget decisions and impact in house, focusing on the budget appropriations for the Ministries of Health, Labour and Social Affairs, Education and Science, and Agriculture. Scores of programs and sub-programs implemented by these ministries have a wide ranging impact on the lives of the Georgian citizens. However, gathering the data necessary for a meaningful discussion of expenditure decisions from these ministries for the 2014 budget took longer than expected and was more imprecise than was hoped for, preventing the interactive from being published.

Lack of government cooperation and relevant ministries, published or accessible data has made the development of this website impossible at this stage. This means this outcome is yet to be achieved.

Georgian Anti-Corruption Council and Georgia’s international anti-corruption obligationsOutcome: Government implements reform in line with adopted Action Plan and international commitments.The updated National Anti-Corruption Strategy and the new Action Plan were yet to be adopted as of December 2014. The work to develop these stalled throughout the summer and the autumn and only resumed toward the end of the year when the Anti-Corruption Council notified the CSOs involved in the process of its intention to present the two drafts in early 2015.

The new National Anti-Corruption Strategy and its Implementation Action Plan were approved by the Anti-Corruption Council in February 2015 and adopted through a Government decree in April of2015. TI Georgia was involved in the development of the two documents throughout the process which started in 2013 and contributed to the final outcome through comments and recommendation. Specifically, in its communication with the Anti-Corruption Council’s Secretariat, TI Georgia highlighted a number of serious shortcomings of the previous strategy and Action Plan (adopted in 2010), including an overly broad focus, absence of benchmarks and indicators and of specific implementation timeframes, and the lack of a monitoring and evaluation methodology. As a result of these shortcomings, proper monitoring of the implementation of the original strategy and action plan never took place and implementation reports were published irregularly.

In contrast, the new strategy and Action Plan have a clear anti-corruption focus and contain clear implementation time frames and indicators. Moreover, the Anti-Corruption Council adopted a monitoring and evaluation methodology along with the two documents. The methodology involves both qualitative and quantitative assessment of progress, indicators for assessing process as well as outcome, and provides opportunities for inputs from civil society organizations. The Anti-Corruption Council’s Secretariat published its first six-month implementation report based on the new methodology in July of 2015, which is a notable improvement over the past practice where such reports were published with considerable delays or were not published at all.

In October of 2014, the Georgian Government presented its progress update on the implementation of recommendation to the OECD Anti-Corruption Network’s Secretariat. TI Georgia attended the plenary session where this update was discussed and presented its alternative view, highlighting in particular the lack of progress in terms of the adoption of the updated National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan and the development of proper enforcement mechanisms for the country’s anti-corruption laws.

Throughout the project period, TI Georgia sent progress updates to the OECD Anti-Corruption Network’s Secretariat concerning the implementation of its recommendations by the Georgian Government (two such updates were sent between July 2014 and August 2015). The OECD published its most recent progress update in March of 2015 and, as was the case with all previous documents, it contained TI Georgia’s comments. Overall, Georgia has made good progress in terms of the implementation of the OECD recommendations. According to the March 2015 report, Georgia has achieved “progress” in the implementation of 10 recommendations and “significant progress” on one

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recommendation. “Limited progress” has been made on the recommendation concerning improvement of the Anti-Corruption Council’s capacity. The three recommendations where the OECD ACN noted relative or complete lack of progress are related to party and campaign finance, judicial independence, and integrity in the business sector.

Outcome: Strengthened the role and administrative capacity of the Anti-Corruption Council.TI Georgia continued to advocate for improvements in the anti-corruption body’s capacity. At a conference held on the International Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December 2014, TI Georgia presented its report which reviewed international best practices in terms of the establishment of anti-corruption agencies and Georgia’s ongoing challenges in this field, and offered a number of recommendations for reform. Key stakeholders, including members of Parliament, executive branch representatives, and CSOs attended the event.

TI Georgia has also prepared a set of legislative proposals for the establishment of an anti-corruption agency which would, along with the current Anti-Corruption Council’s policy coordinating role, have a number of powers in terms of monitoring the application of the existing anti-corruption provisions in practice and imposing sanctions on the public officials who violate them. There is an ongoing discussion with a number of MPs to secure their support for the proposals.

While the Government continues to oppose TI Georgia’s proposal to set up an independent anti-corruption agency, it has acknowledged the need for improving the capacity of the Anti-Corruption Council and its Secretariat. This has been included in the new anti-corruption strategy and Action Plan as one of the priority objectives.

Neither of these outcomes were fully achieved by the completion of this program year. This is in part due to lack of capacity within the Government to achieve their policy agenda, and in part due to a lack of political will to make the requisite changes. However, important changes on the way towards these outcomes have been made. The Government has become more receptive to discussions in this sphere, and with the signing of the Association Agreement we expect renewed enthusiasm to implement these commitments. It can be counted towards our success that the government has acknowledged the need to reform the Council in its new Action Plan.

Improving Accountability and Responsiveness of Local GovernmentAcross the local government, TI Georgia has seen improvements in engagement, transparency and accountability. While there remains a lot of potential for further improvements, the outcomes in this area have been achieved in the focus regions of Kutaisi, Zugdidi and Batumi.

Outcome: Increased citizen’s engagement on local issues.TI Georgia Batumi office has intervened with Adjaran government officials to improve citizen engagement and publication of information. Through fora organized by the Batumi office representatives of the Adjarian government and Ministry of Energy informed their public about the plans related to infrastructural projects. This was an opportunity for people from the villages where the construction works are planned or underway to understand what, when, where and why construction work was being undertaken. As it was agreed during the forum, the local government will provide information about every detail of the project to the local residents prior to commencement of new works. It was also agreed that government will start to register all landowners in the regions and will start negotiations with those whose property might be affected by the construction. This is a great success, and has an important impact on the lives of these villages. It does, however, further emphasize the lack of systematic consultation and stakeholder engagement on issues that affect the public.

In an effort to improve the accountability and responsiveness of the local administrations in the capital and regions, TI Georgia continues its project ChemiKucha.ge (FixMyStreet). With the help of the website, residents of Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi and Zugdidi can report problems on their streets. Every report of a problem is automatically emailed to designated staff at city halls. Users can monitor any changes and report updates, including when a problem was repaired. We found that awareness that such a website exists is high, but low response rate that we have seen recently from city governments, has been discouraging to users. We plan to address this problem through increased public pressure and a renewed campaign after a ChemiKucha mobile app is launched closer to the end of 2015.

TI Georgia Batumi office also studied transparency of the expenditures of Adjaran municipalities and made recommendations on proposed budgets. At a request of Adjaran municipalities, TI Georgia conducted trainings for

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municipality staff in budgeting that have resulted in significant improvements in drafting and implementing of local budgets.

Outcome: Improved service delivery.Zugdidi office has been actively advocating for increasing the financing for social projects in Zugdidi Municipality. As a result of our advocacy, the City Council of Zugdidi decided to increase financing of the social programs. For example, the local government has increased funding for the homeless, and provided housing where possible. Zugdidi office has also been successful in advocacy for increased social benefits for the vulnerable. As a result, people with disabilities and students can use public transport within the municipality for free.

Outcome: Improved internal regulationsZugdidi office has been advocating to change the system of delivering bonuses to the local public servants. TI Georgia recommended to change the system so that the decision on issuing a bonus to a public servant would require a written justification describing the employee’s specific achievement for which the bonus was being issued. TI Georgia also advocated for introducing basic criteria for bonuses. Zugdidi Council has shared the proposed recommendations and adopted new rules that include such criteria and a requirement to provide reasoning. Same success was achieved in 6 other municipalities in Samegrelo and Imereti.

Outcome: Local governments address accountability concerns, as these receive national coverageLocal government elections occurred in June of 201426, with runoff elections in July of 2014. No major irregularities were noted in the runoff elections. A number of the local governments were elected for the first time (previously having been appointed); and new governments have allowed for new opportunities to engage but also new obstacles. Local governments focus on a range of issues, and our local offices are therefore involved in a range of diverse concerns. Activities have focused on improving transparency of government activities through awareness raising, capacity development and intervention on issues of particular concern to the public. This multi-pronged approach is aiming to deal with issues as they arise while reinforcing lessons and concepts through longer term institutional development activities.

There is an on-going process of politically motivated dismissals of public servants, at both the national and municipal level. An apolitical, transparent and accountable public service is a cornerstone of democratic development. Dismissing public servants due to political affiliation, or perceived affiliations undermines this principle and weakens important institutions. It also reduces the sustainability of any reforms initiated to improve transparency and accountability by undermining capacity, even as organizations are working to improve it. For this reason, TI Georgia has been providing legal aid to public servants in instances of unfair or politically motivated dismissals.

In addition to staff who have been made redundant, a total of 67 cases of unfair or politically motivated dismissals of public servants have been taken to court with TI Georgia’s legal aid. In 49 of these cases public servants were restored in their positions and/or received proper compensation. In numerous other cases legal aid was provided in a form of legal consultation when there was no necessity of appealing to the court. For example, public servants have asked how to act when they are faced with coerced pressure from their supervisors to resign, which law protects them from unlawful dismissal and so on.

Tbilisi and Batumi office lawyers have achieved significant results in court disputes and have set new precedents. Tbilisi lawyers have won a case where a Tbilisi City Hall employee was rejected an appointment despite the fact that she had successfully passed qualification exams. According to the existing practice, Tbilisi City Hall conducts performance evaluations on a score-based system. The scores were used as a substantiation of a decision. According to the City Hall, they do not have to justify their decisions due to the fact that all scores have their weight and explanation, thus persons who have participated in a qualification exam should not seek official explanations. The court upheld the complaint of TI Georgia and delivered a judgement, according to which all decisions, including the results of the qualification exam, should be comprehensively considered.

In case of Batumi, local lawyers have successfully finalized the case that concerned the dismissal of director of the municipal noncommercial legal entity. The law does not regulate dismissal procedures for noncommercial legal entity management. It was an established practice that such people were dismissed without any justification. The court has ruled in favour of TI Georgia beneficiary and stated that any decision concerning the dismissal of an

26 http://transparency.ge/en/node/438412

employee of noncommercial legal entity must be reasoned and the reasoning must be delivered to the persons concerned. The court also stated that the person concerned has full legal right to appeal the decisions and seek justice in the common court systems.

Regional awareness raising events included radio programs and mobile clinics. These provided information for public servants and public officials on their rights and responsibilities. Overall, 28 mobile clinics were held in almost all regions of Georgia. During these visits, our lawyers met with public servants of local government bodies and consulted with them regarding the rights and responsibilities of local authorities. After these meetings, discussion attendees were able to approach our lawyers and receive legal consultations. In Kazbegi, Tskaltubo, Senaki, Zugdidi and Kareli municipalities TI Georgia’s lawyers also held presentations on competitions and certifications in the public service and competitive recruitment processes.

The mixture of awareness-raising activities, training (conducted through this and other projects) and monitoring is providing the capacity and environment for reform and politicization of the civil service.

Property rightsOutcome: Population is empowered in protecting its property rights.Batumi office has been working on the problems related to the construction of the Hydropower plants in the mountainous regions of Adjara. TI Georgia’s lawyers regularly represent the rights of the affected people in the court and have conducted 9 mobile clinics in Adjara to inform locals about their rights. In total, 51 locals were supported by TI Georgia to register their property at the Public Registry. At the same time Batumi office has provided legal aid to the public servants that have been illegally dismissed from the office.

Zugdidi office lawyers are actively working in Anaklia on the cases of overlap. 7 cases have been already finalized successfully and the beneficiaries have restored their property rights on the land.

Kutaisi office has been working on cases related to the property rights, throughout entire Imereti region. At the same time Kutaisi office has successfully finalized 31 cases on illegal dismissals of public servants. In all successful cases public servants were either returned to their position or were given the compensation.

Tbilisi office has been working on issues related to the recognition of property rights and illegal dismissal of public servants. Overall, Tbilisi office consulted 543 beneficiaries and successfully finalized 38 court cases.

Awareness-raising activities, and legal cases are on-going in a number of regions. They have resulted in people being more confident demanding their rights; coming to us with concerns about potential violations of rights, requests for representation. As a result, property rights is no longer a major issue and we have significantly contributed towards this.

Competition environment Outcome: Strengthened role and capacity of the Competition and State Procurement Agency.There were several significant gains in improving the competition environment, improving fairness and openness in the first half of this project year. In September, the by-laws for the Competition Agency were approved by the relevant Parliamentary Committee, and on October 1 they were approved by the Ministry of Justice – becoming normative acts. TI Georgia was actively involved in the drafting of these by-laws, and in the advocacy to relevant stakeholders to ensure their approval and implementation.

The Competition Agency has stated that it will investigate and analyze the fuel market. TI Georgia has welcomed this decision, as we have previously noted evidence of collusion and unfair practices in the market. These investigations by the agency may lead to fines or other actions taken against companies who participate in anti-competitive actions, or violate relevant market regulations. This is in line with requirements under the Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU and supports sustainable economic development. TI Georgia will monitor the actions of the Competition Agency to assess the quality of its market analysis and punitive or deterrent actions taken on the basis of its findings.

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The new legislation has successfully strengthened the role of the Competition Agency, it remains to be seen if the capacity has also been strengthened.

Outcome: Public is engaged in competition issues.Research into two markets of concern was conducted to provide greater information about competition issues in Georgia and to improve public engagement. The postal/couriers market and the gambling market were the focus of research in the reporting period. Work in the courier/postal market has been on-going, with changes to regulations that restrict competition having been enacted. There is on-going litigation for compensation of losses incurred by courier companies due to changes in market regulation, where TI Georgia has been called as an expert witness. TI Georgia has been engaged in research and advocacy to remove these restrictions. Having built on successful earlier advocacy, we worked with international diplomatic representatives in Georgia to confirm and convince the Georgian Business Ombudsman of the problems around re-restricting the market. We have successfully convinced some senior members of the Georgian Government on this issue and are working with these allies and champions to resolve the case. A report on the market was issued in February and attracted sufficient public interest. Since then nothing new has been initiated by any stakeholder in this regard.

An initial survey of the gambling market was conducted and published. The report found that there is little available information on the impact of the gambling market, despite it being a large contributor to government revenue. The second report detected some problems in regulation and supervision of this sector, especially, online gambling. Overall, most of problems derive from the fact that Government of Georgia does not have a policy nor strategy regarding how the gambling business should be regulated.

Through frequent reporting and strategic litigation around competition legislation and reform, the public profile and awareness of competition is being improved. Engagement on issues of concern is mostly reactive, but findings of our reports, and concerns raised through litigation or advocacy are published and discussed in newspapers and broadcast media.27

Outcome: Public and stakeholders are informed on revolving-door issue in Georgia.Significant progress has been achieved in terms of improving the regulatory framework of revolving door and the broader issue of insulating public administration from the undue influence of private interests. In July of 2015, the Georgian Government submitted to the Parliament a set of amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest and Corruption in Service. The amendments (which have been approved by the legislature in the second reading as of September 2015) reflect a number of recommendations that TI Georgia has published over the last two years:

1. Introduction of a verification system for the asset declarations of public officials (in order to ensure that any improper connections with the private sector and/or conflicts of interest are detected); 2. A provision whereby former public officials will be required to file an asset declaration one-year after leaving office (in order to make it possible to monitor their compliance with post-employment restrictions); 3. Requirement for public officials to disclose indirect as well as direct involvement in private companies (indirect involvement refers to a situation where a company in which a public official has a stake owns another company); 4. Extension of whistleblower protection provisions to individuals outside the public sector (increasing the chances that private sector employees will contribute to uncovering corruption).

Additionally, a new regulation mandating a ‘cooling off’ period after employment with a regulatory body was submitted to the Parliament in spring of 2015 as part of the anti-corruption package drafted by TI Georgia. TI Georgia has an ongoing discussion with a number of MPs to secure their support for the package. As such, this outcome has been a success.

Transparent state procurement in GeorgiaOutcome: Stakeholders and citizens get a better understanding of how public funds are spent in key sectors and who benefits from public contracts; government actors improve the procurement environment to increase competition and prevent collusion and corruption

27 http://pia.ge/show_news.php?id=23514&lang=geo; http://www.tabula.ge/ge/story/87864-ormocamde-kerdzo-gadamzidavma-shesadzloa-saqartvelos-bazri-datovos; http://commersant.ge/?menuid=87&id=17926&lang=1;

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Outcome: Citizens, including business associations and business representatives, are better informed about government projects and key government tenders; journalists report about procurement issues relying on official data, informing the public about government activities, investigating questionable tenders; activists use procurement data for advocacy efforts; government actors use the website to investigate collusion, misuse of spending and corruption; the CSPA uses data and analysis produced by TI Georgia to address corruption risks in the procurement system.There has been an on-going monitoring of government procurement at the national and local government level, and findings have been reported. We highlighted trends as well as problems in public procurement in 2013 and 2014 and presented our recommendations for solving the problems in our third major assessment of Georgian public procurement published in July of 2015. Our findings have shown that procurement decisions have been mostly transparent. However, weaknesses remain in the process and regulation – this can be observed by the high number of procurements where there are only one tenderer, frequent contract amendments, 28 and a worrying trend of providing large percentages of the contract value upfront.29 Having identified these issues, TI Georgia will include discussions on these issues in meetings with civil servants and public officials, and will provide at the local government level in the future.

Our research findings and presentations promote stakeholder and citizen understanding and awareness of government expenditure and contracting processes. Our reporting on issues including simplified or non-competitive procurement processes, misuse of state budget funds and lack of accountability in some funded organizations (such as the Georgian Orthodox Church) has resulted in broadcast media and newspapers30 interest, reporting and commentary. This is an important step in improving public awareness of government projects and tenders, misuse of spending and corruption and in achieving our outcomes in this area.

This outcome has been successfully achieved. On-going monitoring, awareness raising and reinforcement of this work will be needed to achieve sustainability.

Monitoring of high profile cases(Ad hoc activity, no agreed outcome statement)TI Georgia has been monitoring high profile criminal cases since February of 2013 and has published three reports (August 2013, July 2014 and October 2015). These cases remain highly sensitive, with the potential for politically motivated charges against high-profile officials being brought, and the potential for the court to be influenced by political considerations in both the conduct of the case and the final decision. By monitoring these cases, TI Georgia aims to encourage the fairness of the trials, observance of rights and legitimate interest of the parties, and concurrently report to the public and international community about the monitored cases and identified problems, if any.

The third report found that the use of preventive measures (pre-trial detention) was abused. The problem of abusing usage of detention was particularly clear in case of former Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava. Mr. Ugulava was detained for more than one year without a guilty verdict rendered against him. The chronology of measures enacted against him and the abuse of the aforementioned legislative discrepancy related to preventive measures were indicative of the process being directed by political motives. The impression produced was that the prosecution’s main purpose at that moment was to have the accused detained. In certain cases TI Georgia observed a deliberate and strategic protraction of proceedings by both the prosecution and/or the defense. One of the major problems discovered relates to the current system of case assignment. Current is predictable and leaves room for manipulation; it actually allows for the possibility of determining in advance which judge will try which case. TI Georgia’s third report received increased attention from Georgian Judiciary. On 12 October 2015 TI Georgia was invited to the High Council of Justice to present its report. All members of the High Council of Justice including Chief Justice attended the presentation.

The rules for using pre-trial detention as a preventive measures gave possibility of their abuse. This flaw repeatedly caused problems in practice. For example, there were defendants, who were detained for more than one year

28 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/ministry-infrastructure-procurement-notable-trends29 http://transparency.ge/en/blog/trends-procurements-new-administration-tbilisi-city-hallhttp://www.transparency.ge/en/post/report/simplified-procurement-remains-primary-challenge-georgia-s-public-procurement-system 30 http://ick.ge/rubrics/politics/20279-i.html; http://goo.gl/6N248e; http://commersant.ge/index.php?m=5&news_id=17660&cat_id=11

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without a guilty verdict rendered against them. TI Georgia has several times raised this issue. Finally, when Gigi Ugulava’s attorneys applied to the Constitutional Court with the request to declare rules on pretrial detention as unconstitutional, TI Georgia submitted amicus brief. On 16 September 2015 Constitutional Court of Georgia has rendered the decision, declaring that the application of multiple pretrial detentions when one detention can fully guarantee the aims of the pre-trial detention is unconstitutional. TI Georgia’s position has been fully shared by the court.

Case allocation system(Ad hoc activity, no agreed outcome statement)Given previous successful cooperation with TI Georgia, the new leadership of the Supreme Court approached us with a request to assist them in streamlining and settling their IT-related issues. After discussions and prioritization of the issues on the table from the both sides, we agreed that TI Georgia would help Supreme Court in designing (requirements definition for the software, technical design, solution design) and solution development of the random case allocation system for the Courts. TI Georgia’s previous rule of law work had identified the arbitrary allocation of cases among judges as a major weakness of the system.

Since the Chairwoman of the Supreme Court is also the Chairwoman of the Supreme Council of Justice, it was agreed that our assistance would be extended to the system across all levels of the judiciary. TI Georgia launched the requirements definition process together with an IT company experienced in designing and implementing complex IT systems and business applications for large organizations. They also had some previous experience of cooperation with the High Council of Justice.

A draft requirements definition document has been created and will be further enhanced along with finalization and official adoption of the random case allocation rules. Following the finalization of the document, it will be sent for the final signature and approval to the main stakeholders in the court system, and after their approval it will be complemented by the solution architecture and the two will become the guiding documents for tendering out the solution development.

Gender mainstreamingTerms of reference have been developed and informal discussions have begun to identify an appropriate trainer. In addition advice is being sought from the TI Secretariat. A formal tender process will be undertaken once we have finalized what services we will be contracting for.

Large-scale privatizationsDuring this reporting period no work was conducted on privatizations, as no major privatizations occurred.

Approved:

Eka GigauriExecutive Director

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Annex 1: LAWS

1. New law on Post Service: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/press-release/dhl-tnt-ups-and-forty-other-companies-may-leave-georgian-market-due-adoption-new-law-on-postal-service; http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/comments-revised-version-draft-law-postal-market

2. Social advertizing: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/cooperating-broadcasters-necessary-when-adopting-reforms-social-advertisin

3. Surveillance: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/affects-you-too-campaign-welcomes-adoption-regulations-regarding-secret-surveillance; http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/nine-threats-your-personal-life-stemming-new-legislation-ons-secret-wiretapping

4. Remuneration and social protection safeguards Constitutional Court members: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/pay-raises-members-constitutional-court-georgia

5. Access to citizens’ confidential banking information: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/tax-authorities-obtain-unlimited-access-confidential-banking-information-0

6. Delays in enactment of legislative reforms: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/delays-enactment-legislative-reforms-demonstrate-government-inefficiency

7. State secrecy: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/new-law-state-secrets-threatening-unjustified-restriction-information

8. Labor migration: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/draft-law-labor-migration-new-unreasonable-barriers-business

9. New immigration regulations: http://transparency.ge/en/blog/challenges-new-immigration-policies-georgia, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/problems-persist-georgian-immigration-policy, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/fixing-flawed-immigration-and-visa-reform-attempt-number-four

10. Business Ombudsman: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/new-law-must-ensure-institutional-independence-business-ombudsman

11. Judicial reform: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/press-release/initial-remarks-and-considerations-respect-draft-laws-judicial-reform, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/coalition-s-opinion-about-third-wave-judicial-reform

12. Ministry of Internal Affairs reform: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/opinions-and-comments-draft-law-developed-part-moi-reform, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/ministry-interior-reforms-do-not-address-undemocratic-practice-planting-security-officers, http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/ngos-urge-parliament-revise-draft-amendments-law-security-services, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/assessment-ministry-interior-reform

13. National Bank: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/statement-ngos-draft-amendments-national-bank-georgia, http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/stripping-national-bank-its-banking-supervision-functions-will-inhibit-it-fulfilling-its-constitutional-duties

14. Electoral system reform: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/political-parties-and-csos-urge-parliament-reform-electoral-system

15. Eviction: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vkFcKpkjfdNxRxkZIo5asRhm9eGeconqbbi7Xdc_Z6s/edit16. Prosecutor’s Office reform: http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/press-release/views-coalition-about-reform-

prosecutor-s-office, http://www.transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/statement-coalition-regarding-preliminary-joint-opinion-prosecution-reform

17. Confidential tax information: http://transparency.ge/en/blog/tax-authorities-obtain-unlimited-access-confidential-banking-information-0; http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/ti-georgia-s-response-statement-ministry-finance

18. Law on Broadcasting: http://transparency.ge/en/post/general-announcement/cooperating-broadcasters-necessary-when-adopting-reforms-social-advertisin

19. Self-Government Code: http://www.transparency.ge/en/blog/increased-staff-numbers-local-government-results-gel-17-million-extra-government-spending

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