TBILISI, September 23 – The Council of Europe says it did not transfer a grant to a Georgian political school or pay its officials for a recent seminar after Georgian authorities launched a probe for possible violation of the grants law.
In a statement to Interpressnews on Tuesday, the Strasbourg-based organization said it had directly organized and supported the September 18-19 seminar in Bakhmaro, a mountain resort in western Georgia. The event was held in partnership with the Tbilisi School of Political Studies, which served as its partner and host.
The clarification follows allegations by Georgian officials that the seminar may have been funded in breach of the country’s law on foreign grants. On Monday, the State Audit Office opened an inquiry into whether the school had received a grant without the government’s consent. It said it would review relevant documents and question people who might have information about the funding.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili suggested Monday that the Council of Europe might have paid seminar expenses directly rather than transferring a grant to the school. He argued that such an arrangement could amount to an attempt to circumvent the grants law if the payments effectively funded the school’s activities.
The Council of Europe said no grant was transferred to a recipient in Georgia. It also said it paid no fees to the school’s director, politician Armaz Akhvlediani, or to any other school representatives in connection with the seminar.
According to the organization, the seminar was part of its project supporting civic dialogue in Georgia, carried out under its 2024-2027 action plan for the country. The Council said that plan had been prepared in close consultation with Georgian authorities and included efforts to strengthen dialogue and participation in democratic processes.
The event was invitation-only and closed to the media. The Council said invitations had been distributed widely among school alumni with different political affiliations to encourage debate between the different points of view.
Although the Council’s statement addresses how the seminar was funded, it does not settle the legal question raised by Georgian officials, which led to the new probe by the the Audit Office for possible violation of the law on grants.
The latest amendments to the law on grants was among several moves by the Georgian Dream government aimed at reining in the foreign funding of civil society.
