TBILISI, DFWatch – An opposition lawmaker aligned with Bidzina Ivanishvili calls for the government to go through the financial activities of the billionaire in order to clear up accusations leveled against him.

The request came Tuesday from Giorgi Tsagareishvili, member of the Free Democrats and chairman of the parliamentary faction Unity for Justice. He was responding to statements made by another opposition politician, Gia Tortladze, who according to Tsagareishvili has come to defend the government’s line.

What prompted the latest exchange was when Tortladze called Bidzina Ivanishvili an oligarch and that he is using Russian money to try to cause disturbances in Georgia. With this in mind, Ivanishvili distributes money to specific parties and persons, Tortladze said, and added that he has trustworthy information about this. After having said this, Tortladze left the session hall.

Gia Tortladze was elected as part of the opposition in the parliamentary elections in 2008, but after being elected has actively defended the positions of the government. Officially he is still considered head of the opposition faction.

As a response, Tsagareishvili said that unfortunately there are people within political parties who are fulfilling special orders, but do this in an untalented way, so it doesn’t take much thinking to figure out this person’s actions and aims.

He said he has repeatedly spoken out against portraying other people as enemies all the time, but it seems that it’s impossible to avoid.

Giorgi Tsagareishvili appealed to the General Prosecutor and the Interior Minister, using his rights as a member of parliament to request to react to the speech of Gia Tortladze and find out ‘whose money is distributed and where and how it is distributed’, and then present the results to parliament.

“I hope all of this will become clear,” Tsagareishvili said, and added that it would be better if the government would speak of such accusations, because ‘everything would be clearer to the society.’

The Speaker of Parliament is ready to immediately satisfy this demand.

After Tsagareishvili’s speech speaker David Bakradze requested the organizational department to process the MP’s appeal. The first Vice Speaker of Parliament Mikheil Machavariani promised Tsagareishvili that all the things he asked for will be clarified.