Investigative reports
Georgia is Low-Cost Home for Bitfury
ifact.ge Bitfury, one of the biggest companies in the bitcoin industry, operates two bitcoin production centers in Georgia. Bitfury CEO Valery Vavilov promotes the company by listing all the advantages of operating in Georgia. They include: […]
Investigation reveals misspending of Government Reserve Fund
The Georgian Government Reserve Fund aimed at funding unexpected and urgent situations, has spent 62% of its budget for programs already funded by the national budget and for which there seems to be no need for emergency spending, investigative website Ifact reports. […]
Georgian Lottery Will Take Chance on New License Holder
A new company will get the license to organize the Georgia national lottery. The Ministry of Finance has announced a tender to award the license and will accept offers until December 12. […]
New Season, Same Old Match-Fixing Story in Georgian Football
It took just four weeks into the new season for new match fixing to appear in Georgian football. According to a UEFA Betting Fraud Detection System report, which was sent to the Georgian Football Federation (GFF), the result of a September 8 match between Merani Martvili and Rustavi was manipulated. According to the UEFA report, an unusual number of bets were placed during the match for Merani to win and for more than 2.5 goals to be scored. Merani was a 2-1 winner in the match. […]
Match Fixing Plagues Georgian Football
By Giorgi Chaduneli www.ifact.ge In the last two years, there have been six cases exposed of either successful or attempted match fixing in Georgian football. Players, referees and entire teams have been fined or in some cases permanently banned from the sport. While one case has been working its way through the Tbilisi City Court system for the past year, two new suspicious matches have been uncovered. […]
Budget Is Loser in State Lottery
By Nino Bakradze www.ifact.ge In 2011, a company formed by the brother-in law of former Georgia Minister of Defense David Kezarashvili to operate the country's national lottery system gave 70 percent of that company's shares to the Ministry of Economics free of charge. Leaked documents found in the Panama Papers offer a possible explanation for this [...]
Offshore Company Spent 3 Years Chasing Ivanishvili’s Passport
Bidzina Ivanishvii showing his passport during president election of October, 2013 (DFWatch) By Nino Bakradze and Dave Bloss Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project TBILISI, REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA — Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wealth is not all hidden away in vaults. His 108,000 square foot glass house perches on a hill above the capital city of the country he returned to rule as prime minister after leaving for neighboring Russia as a young man and accumulating billions of dollars before moving back to Georgia in 2004. […]
Georgians struggling to get through European visa maze
TBILISI, DFWatch – Vakhtang Nadibaidze (53) stands in line in front of the Polish embassy, waiting for the answer to his visa application. Many Georgians have been in his place, facing the labyrinth it is to get a visa at the European embassies here. He remembers how about […]
Police action against Chinese settlement in Tbilisi
TBILISI, DFWatch - People at a Chinese settlement south of Tbilisi say the police came and questioned them two days after DFWatch wrote about the place. The Interior Ministry denies that the police was there. DFWatch December 6, 2011, reported on a Chinese market where women and children seemed to be living under cramped [...]