The newsletter gives an overview of the donations received by political parties from January 1 up to March 31, 2024.

Unlike the past quarter, when the Georgian Dream received up to GEL 10 million in donations, the ruling party's donations have decreased 20 times and amounted to less than GEL 500,000. However, the donors of the party still included interest holders of companies that win multi-million-lari public tenders – Tsekuri LCC and Bondi 2009 LLC, as well as donors the companies connected with whom receive large subsidies through various state programs.

The statistics of donations

From January 1 to March 31, 2024, all the parties received a total of GEL 1,224,111 in donations, which is one-eighth of the analogous figure of the previous quarter (GEL 10,163,787). The Georgian Dream received 37% of the partisan donations—GEL 447,030. Lelo for Georgia ranks second with GEL 445,500, and the United National Movement (UNM) ranks third with GEL 170,720.

In the reporting period, the newly founded openly pro-Russian political party, Solidarity for Peace, whose chairperson is Merab Chikashvili, a former MP candidate from the Alliance of Patriots, received a donation of GEL 12,800.

The UNM, which received a donation 45 times during the reporting period, takes the lead in terms of the number of donors; the Labor Party received 35 donations, and the For the People party received 31 donations. The Georgian Dream received 23 donations in total, although the share of large donors was much higher in its donors than in those of other parties.

An overview of donors of the Georgian Dream

From January 1 up to March 31, 2024, 23 donors donated a total of GEL 447,030 to the Georgian Dream. These individuals have donated GEL 1.4 million in total for the benefit of the Georgian Dream.^[1] Four companies connected with the donors have won tenders worth GEL 81 million in the past six months. (In total, these companies have won tenders worth GEL700 million since 2013. See details in Table 1).    

Sergo Khabuliani is a former member of the Parliament; he was an MP of Tsageri from the UNM, although in 2012, as soon as the government changed, he left the UNM and continued his activities in the Parliament as an independent MP. Since 2018, Sergo Khabuliani, his spouse Lela Meshveliani, his sons Beka and Irakli Khabuliani, and his company, Tsekuri, have donated GEL 438,000 to the Georgian Dream. Since January this year alone, Tsekuri LLC has won tenders with a total value of up to GEL 65 million; since 2013, this company has won tenders worth close to GEL 280 million.

The Bondi 2009 company has been winning in multi-million-lari public tenders for many years now, while its interest holders have been large donors of the Georgian Dream. This time, the coffers of the ruling party were filled with GEL 77,000 by Davit Devadze and Otar Putkaradze; in total, they have donated GEL 237,000 to the Georgian Dream.

In addition to public procurements, five companies connected with the donors of the Georgian Dream received subsidies in the framework of state agro-programs from 2017 to 2023 (see Table 2).

In addition to agro-programs, in the framework of the state-funded grape harvest subsidy program of 2020 and 2023, Chateau Mukuzani LLC has received GEL 593,972, while Chateau Khvanchkara LLC, which is owned by Bakur Michitashvili, has received GEL 121,281.