My Town LLC and sole entrepreneur Shorena Tabagari, who are linked to the former Head of the Infrastructure Service of the Borjomi City Hall, have received GEL 4,117,864 from 68 public procurements in the years 2014-2021. Out of this, they received GEL 2,162,992 (52% of the total amount) without competition and by means of disqualification of competitors.

Who owns My Town LLC?

The owner of My Town LLC was Irma Kharebashvili, the spouse of Giorgi Kipiani, who is a son of a cousin of the former Head of the Municipal Administration of Borjomi, Dimitri Kipiani. During the tenure of his uncle Dimitri Kipiani (in the years 2013 [1]-2017 [2]), Giorgi Kipiani started [3] work in the position of the Lead Specialist at N(N)LE Borjomi Park. Later, from October 2018, he was appointed as the Head of the Infrastructure Service at the Borjomi City Hall and held this position until May 2020. In January 2021, Giorgi Kipiani was arrested [4] by the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service on the charges of taking a bribe in large amount. Giorgi Kipiani’s brother, Dimitri Kipiani, has also served as the head of a municipal non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity (N(N)LE) of the Borjomi Municipality since December 2017 [5]. He is the Director [6] of Borjomi Public Transport.

Irma Kharebashvili founded [7] the construction company My Town LLC on May 5, 2017, five days after her spouse was appointed at the municipal N(N)LE. A friend of the Kipiani family, Giorgi Tsikarishvili, became the owner of a stake and director of the company – in September 2018, Irma Kharebashvili transferred [8] a 50% stake to him free of charge.

Twenty-six days after it was founded, My Town LLC was awarded [9] the first direct procurement contract by Borjomi Park, the same municipal N(N)LE in which Kharebashvili’s spouse, Giorgi Kipiani, worked at the time. Since then, the company has been obtaining procurement contracts only from the Borjomi City Hall. The Borjomi City Hall awarded the first direct procurement contract to the inexperienced company for GEL 49,215.

In 2017-2021, My Town LLC received GEL 528,242 through 16 public procurements of the Borjomi City Hall. Of this, the company received GEL 346,604 from 9 tenders won, including 3 tenders for GEL 109,232 that it won without competition and by means of disqualification of other companies. The company received GEL 181,638 through 7 direct procurement contracts, including direct procurement contracts for GEL 74,402 that were awarded by the Borjomi City Hall when Giorgi Kipiani held the position of the Head of the Infrastructure Service. 

Public procurements of My Town LLC in the years 2017-2021:

Other procurements of the owner of My Town LLC

In addition to the fact that Giorgi Tsikarishvili receives income from My Town LLC, his spouse, Shorena Tabagari, was registered as a sole entrepreneur and in the years 2014-2021 obtained contracts with a value of GEL 3,589,622. Almost all contracts of Shorena Tabagari were signed by Giorgi Tsikarishvili, who acted in the capacity of an attorney-in-fact. Interestingly, Tabagari won [10] the first tender [11] with a value of GEL 22,574 without relevant experience. At that time, Dimitri Kipiani – the uncle of the brothers Giorgi and Dimitri Kipiani – was the Head of the Municipal Administration of Borjomi.

Tabagari won 42 tenders with a total value of GEL 3,169,389 in 2014-2021, including 29 tenders worth GEL 2,053,760 that she won without competition and by means of disqualification of other companies. And she was awarded 11 tendering contracts with a value of GEL 1,231,604 when her friend, Giorgi Kipiani, was the Head of the Infrastructure Service of the Borjomi City Hall and a member of the tendering commission. Tabagari won 40 of the 42 tenders in the Borjomi Municipality. She only won 2 tenders in other agencies – 1 in the Tsalka [12] Municipality and 1 in the Georgian National Tourism [13] Administration.

Tabagari also obtained 10 direct procurement contracts worth GEL 420,233 in the years 2016-2017, including 6 contracts worth GEL 379,070 that she concluded with the Borjomi Municipality. 

Public procurements of Shorena Tabagari (Giorgi Tsikarishvili) in the years 2014-2021: 

In total, Giorgi Tsikarishvili, who is connected with the Kipianis, received GEL 4,117,864 through the procurements of his own company and those of his spouse in the years 2014-2021.

In addition to public procurements, Giorgi Tsikarishvili also received a gift of a land plot near the municipal square adjacent to 14 Rustaveli Street in Borjomi. The land plot with an area of 109 sq. m. was bought [14] on May 1, 2019, by an unconditional auction sale, by Maka Gelashvili, the spouse of the Deputy Director of N(N)LE Cleaning and Municipal Improvements of Borjomi, Jemal Kabulashvili, and a month later, on June 10, she gave half of it to Giorgi Tsikarishvili as a gift [15]. 

TI Georgia calls on the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service to study the public procurements of My Town LLC and sole entrepreneur Shorena Tabagari and to find out whether or not corrupt deals took place between them and the contracting authorities, as well as to study whether or not the state-owned land plot with an area of 109 sq. m. adjacent to 14 Rustaveli Street in Borjomi was alienated by means of a corrupt deal.