TBILISI, DFWatch – Christian Democrat leader Giorgi Targamadze claims that Georgia’s Revenue Service harassed the head of one of the country’s largest companies.

Two days before, the person had suggested to the government had made suggestions regarding liberalization of the system to handle tax disputes in a closed session between parliamentarians and business council members.

He claims the representative of the business-unit had sent a letter to president Mikheil Saakashvili, Prime Minister Nika Gilauri, Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze and to Targamadze himself, right before the incident. He didn’t specify the identity of this person.

The Christian Democrats leader said his party for a long time have been asking to raise the limit for criminal liability for tax debts from 25 000 to 100 000 lari, which would have avoided the situation leading up to the incident.

“This wasn’t only our idea. An appropriate proposal was coming from the business community. One of the people who had spoke in this same building at the business-council session, writes me a letter and this letter is also on the tables of the president, the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, two days after his critical remark. Then he was called to come to the Revenue Serviec and there he was harassed,” said Targamadze, leader of what according to some polls was Georgia’s largest opposition party before the advent of Bidzina Ivanishvili on the political scene earlier this fall.

“This is the real face of the Georgian government. This is an example of how your relations are with the business community, and not the figures you present in this hall. Until there is such attitude towards the business; while it’s in an oppressed situation the economic sectors won’t develop in Georgia and neither will business have initiative to create more new ideas, attract more funds and employ more people,” Targamadze said at a session in parliament.

The reveleation came during a debate in parliament Friday about the government’s ’10 point plan’.

He drew attention to the fact that the businessman who was called in to the Revenue Service is chairman of one of the biggest businesses in Georgia and an advocate for cooperation between the government and business.