Study of the file of one of the candidates participating in public officials’ competition announced by Tbilisi Municipality City Hall on December 1 of 2014 has brought along well-grounded suspicions of document forgery. According to “Transparency International – Georgia”, technical examination has been performed over one of the signatures on the evaluation form of Tbilisi City Hall Competition – Attestation Commission. Following the opinion of Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau, signature of Aluda Goglichidze, former Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, has been forged on the given document. Namely, examination found out that signature was affixed to the paper through transmitted light by using technical means.

It is noteworthy that “Transparency International – Georgia” is actively promoting and protecting rights of participants in competitions of public officials; Legal Advice Center operating under the organization currently has 14 cases on the competition announced by Tbilisi City Hall on December 1 of 2014. It is noteworthy that with respect to all cases already heard by courts of first instance, competitions announced by Tbilisi City Hall were found out to be lacking in impartiality and transparency. The fact holds particularly true for interview stages. Legal proceedings have identified cases of gross violation of statutory procedures by Tbilisi City Hall Competition-Attestation Commission, including delayed and sporadic provision of meeting protocols and competition documents. Moreover, there have been certain doubts with regard to authenticity of signatures on documents and performed examination has finally confirmed them.

The document, on which signature of Aluda Goglichidze has been declared to be forged, represents a final evaluation form of Shorena Kukhianidze, one of the beneficiaries of our organization. Shorena Kukhianidze took part in the competition announced by Tbilisi City Hall on December 01 of 2014. She got 58 scores in testing (out of maximum 60 scores); however, following an interview, she has not been offered any vacant position.

Image N1: signature on behalf of Aluda Goglichidze on final evaluation form of Shorena Kukhianidze

Examination has determined that signature of Aluda Goglichidze has been transferred to the final evaluation form of Ms. Kukhianidze through transmitted light (using “Adobe Photoshop” computer software) from free signature sample. Please be reminded that examination was performed to determine authenticity of signature of just one member of the specialized commission, that is, the Chairman. However, suspicions arise with respect to all signatures on the evaluation form, as original copy of the document clearly shows that each signature follows one and the same technical pattern. 

Image N2: other signatures on the final evaluation form of Shorena Kukhianidze

It is noteworthy that apart from the final evaluation form, authenticity of other documentation is put at doubt as well. To bring an example, scores circled on several individual evaluation forms of Shorena Kukhianidze were absent from the copies of the same documents presented earlier. According to written explanation of the City Hall, the fact that Commission members put their evaluation in pencil and afterwards Secretariat of the Commission circles them in pen accounts for the given discrepancies - the fact surely constitutes a gross violation of the law, especially given the fact that in previously presented copies no evaluations made in pencil can be discerned altogether.

Forgery of signatures on documentation of competition-attestation commission and arbitrarily circled scores give rise to well-grounded doubts that such manipulations could have been employed for modifying final results and assigning high scores to preferred candidates. For example, Shorena Kukhianidze fell short by just 0.02 scores to be nominated to one of the vacant positions; it implies that even slight change of any score on an individual evaluation form could have had a decisive impact on the final outcome.

“Transparency International – Georgia” expresses its deep concern over the grave violations highlighted in the examination report. Forgery of official documentation is classified as a criminal offense. Correspondingly, we call upon and urge respective authorities to initiate an investigation on possible forgery of documents drawn up in the course of competitions in Tbilisi City Hall.

We believe that the examination report once again proves lack of transparency and impartiality in public sector competitions, casting doubt on legality of competition results announced by Tbilisi City Hall on December 01, 2014 and adversely affecting trust of the public towards selection of public officials.