Funding of the ruling party in Georgia has long been associated with various privileges being granted to businesses. With the amendments made to the law on the political unions of citizens in 2023, legal entities were prohibited from donating (prior to the amendments, there was a 120,000 lari limit to the donations), while the limit set for individual donations in a year—60,000 lari—was not changed. At the same time, the function of monitoring political funding was transferred from the Audit Office to the newly-created Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2023. For years, IDFI has studied the lawfulness of donations, their links with public procurement and other privileges. This study will present findings about the donations received by the ruling party Georgian Dream in 2024-2025, the links of the donors to various businesses and the ruling party itself, involvement in public procurement, and the suspicious circumstances found during this process.

In 2024-2025, the ruling party received up to 17.6 million lari in donations. 15.6 million was received in 2024, with the remaining up to 2 million lari received in the first 3 months of 2025. Among the donors of Georgian Dream, 70 individuals donated the maximum allowed amount of 60 thousand lari, while some reached the donation limit in 2024 and once again donated funds to the ruling party in the first months of 2025.

One such donor is Givi Lebanidze, Deputy CEO and the CFO of JSC “Cartu Bank” and CFO at JSC “Insurance Company Cartu”. He donated 50,000 lari to Georgian Dream in August 2024 and 60,000 lari on January 28, 2025, after the elections. Lebanidze is not the only Cartu employee that has donated large sums to the ruling party.

Nikoloz Charkviani, Deputy CFO of Cartu Bank, donated 30,000 lari to Georgian Dream in August 2024 a day after Lebanidze’s donation. He donated 55,000 lari on 28 January, 2025. On the same dates, the Head of the Legal Department of Cartu Bank, Nikoloz Gulua, donated 20,000 and 40,000 lari respectively to Georgian Dream.

Another two deputies of the CEO donated to the Georgian Dream with an identical strategy. Zurab Gogua, who is also the Commercial Director, first donated 30,000 lari and then 55,000 lari. Meanwhile, Beka Kvaratskhelia, who is also the Chief Risks Officer at the bank, donated 50,000 and 55,000 lari respectively.

Giorgi Tripolski, who has been the director of the brokerage company Cartu Broker LLC since 2024, and likely previously worked at Cartu Bank, donated 20,000 GEL to the Georgian Dream in August 2024 and 30,000 GEL on January 29, 2025. Chairperson of the Supervisory Board, Nato Khaindrava, donated 40,000 lari to the ruling party in 2024 and an additional 60,000 lari in February 2025. On the same dates, the Head of the Human Resources Department of Cartu Bank, Irina Museridze, donated 15,000 and 30,000 lari, respectively. Bachana Dzagania, who according to LinkedIn is the Deputy Head of the Financial Department at Cartu Bank, donated 20,000 lari on August 16, 2024 and 30,000 lari on January 30, 2025.

Former members of the Cartu Bank directorate, Gocha Chikviladze, who is currently the Executive Director of Cartu Group, and Manana Nadiradze donated 30,000 and 20,000 lari, respectively, to Georgian Dream in August 2024. They then donated 40,000 and 30,000 lari, respectively, at the beginning of 2025. Zurab Tevzadze, who was the head of the Economic Analysis Department of Cartu Bank in 2012, with his current position at the bank not able to be verified through official sources, donated a total of 40,000 lari on the same dates. As of 2023, Gocha Chikviladze was the director of Cartu Group, while the latest public records of Manana Nadiradze and Zurab Tevzadze’s employment at Cartu Group are dated in 2012. Nevertheless, they continued to make donations to Georgian Dream in coordination with other employees of Cartu in the following years. For example, Zurab Tevzadze has donated 141,300 lari to Georgian Dream since 2014, while Manana Nadiradze has donated a total of 299,270 lari.

Georgian Dream received a total of 850,000 lari in donations in the summer of 2024 and beginning of 2025 from just the current and former employees of Cartu we identified during the study. The same trend can be observed in other years as well. Coinciding dates of donations and identical strategy raises doubts that these funds may be given to the employees of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Cartu Bank in an organized fashion, in order to facilitate donations through third persons, which is considered to be a banned donation under the law on political unions. This kind of violation would mean redirecting the funds to the budget and imposing appropriate liability on the violators. Since 2012, these individuals have donated a total of over 3 million lari to the political funding of Georgian Dream (public movement Georgian Dream, Georgian Dream party, and the candidate supported by Georgian Dream in the 2018 presidential elections - Salome Zourabichvili).

Monitoring results of the public procurements in the election periods of previous years clearly showed that the companies donating to the Georgian Dream won tenders worth millions of lari and/or benefited from funding from various state programs. This tendency was evident this year as well, with Georgian Dream donors continuing to win tenders worth millions. Below, we present several examples of companies receiving simplified procurement contracts or winning tenders after donating to the ruling party during the 2024 elections.

Case #1

Sergo Khabuliani donated 10,000 to Georgian Dream in March and 40,000 in April 2024, a total of 50,000 lari. In August 2024, his son, Beka Khabuliani, donated 58,000 lari to the same party.

Beka Khabuliani is a shareholder of Tsekuri LLC along with his father and is also the CEO. The company has won tenders of up to 12 million lari in value in the first three and a half months of 2025.

Nikoloz Chachkhiani, a business partner of Beka Khabuliani, also donated 44,000 lari to Georgian Dream on August 2, 2024. Chachkhiani and Khabuliani are the co-owners of the company Khvamli. Another one of Chachkhiani’s companies, New Logistic Group, received a state procurement of up to 1,8 million lari in value without competition in just 2024. As a comparison, in 2023 the company won a tender valued at only 50,000 lari. Jonouli 1, a company in partial ownership by Khabuliani and Chachkhiani that owns a hydroelectric power plant in Tsageri and produced electricity, was fined by the GNERC in 2021 and 2023 for a total of 15,000 lari due to lack of submission and incorrect filing of financial reports. It is unknown whether the company fulfilled its obligation. Previously, the fine received for the delay in commissioning the hydroelectric power plant was written off to the company by a 2018 government decree.

Case #2

Giorgi Rubashvili donated 20,000 lari for the first time to Georgian Dream in September 2024. Following the donation, Rubashvili’s company Kartli LLC won two tenders worth up to 7 million lari. One of these was a contract worth more than 6 million lari signed on February 27, 2025, of a state procurement for the restoration and construction of green areas in the territory of the Tbilisi Municipality. The works are carried out in stages, in accordance with the requirements of the procuring entity. The second public procurement contract, worth up to 650,000 lari, was signed with Kartli LLC on February 14, 2025, for the construction of a support wall at N. Nikoladze Street #4 in Borjomi Municipality. In February 2025, the contract was amended and the start date for the work was extended at the company's request due to bad weather.

Case #3

In September 2024, Roman Abramishvili donated 56,000 lari to the ruling party. He was a donor to the National Movement in 2012, and has been an active donor of the Georgian Dream since 2018.

Following the donation, Abramishvili’s company G&K Technology LLC signed public procurement contracts worth up to 1 million lari in October 2024 and up to 2 million lari in February 2025 with Georgian Amelioration LLC, a total of 3 million lari for two tenders. Both are from the procuring entity, and the company was tasked with the design and construction of water supply improvement measures (pipeline construction) and bank protection measures in the main canal.

In January 2025, G&K Technology LLC received a license for the extraction of "Kvemo Alvani" sand and gravel on the Alazani River in Akhmeta Municipality, on the territory of the Kvemo Alvani and Ozhio administrative unit, for a period of 5 years. Through licenses received in 2006 (renewed in 2019) and 2023, the company also has the permission to extract gravel and stone from the Mashavera river on the territory of the Ratevani administrative unit in Bolnisi municipality.

G&K Technology LLC has thus far received 81,499,154 lari in tenders from the state budget. Abramishvili’s companies are also beneficiaries of state agricultural programs. Specifically, Nushi Imiri LLC received 54,305 in 2021 through the state program for co-financing agricultural mechanization, as well as 444,792 lari through a preferential agricultural credit in the same year, and 162,883 GEL from the "Sow the Future" program. In 2024, the company again benefited from the state program for co-financing agricultural mechanization and received 36,090 lari. Another one of his companies, Kakali Imiri LLC, received 174,957 lari in 2021 through a preferential agricultural credit. His companies take part in the state privatization process as well. Three companies under Abraishvili’s ownership have acquired land in Marneuli through this program: G&K Technology LLC the territory adjacent to the canning factory in Marneuli for 674,300 GEL in 2020. In 2024, also in Marneuli, it purchased a 7808 square meter plot and the buildings on it for 41,000 lari. In 2023, Nushi Imiri LLC purchased 8,183 sq.m. and 5,753 sq.m. agricultural (arable) land plots located in Marneuli, with a total initial price of 26,500 GEL, for 8,000 GEL.

Case #4

Alejsandre Alibegashvili donated 5,000 lari to Georgian Dream in 2024. He is the founder and CEO of the Nitsa and Company LLC company established in 2024. Following the donation, the company received a simplified procurement agreement worth 3,900 lari in December 2024; the company had received its first simplified procurement agreement worth up to 6,000 lari in February 2024. In both cases, the procuring entity is the Kazbegi municipality public works department. At the same time, 2 months after the donation, in November 2024, the company once again won a Kazbegi municipality's tender, this time worth 132,000 lari. Nitsa and Company LLC is currently participating in a 285,555 lari tender announced by the same procuring entity. The company is the only participant in the tender and has put forth an offer in the same amount (no lower effort was observed). Previously, Alibegashvili won tenders worth millions of lari on behalf of another company (SRG LLC). According to the procurement system, however, this company has not participated in tenders since 2021. The company was registered in the Kazbegi municipality, in the Stepantsminda district, just like Aleksandre Alibegashvili himself. Most of the tenders won were announced by the Kazbegi municipality, and the company had no competitors.

Case #5

Tengiz Tabatadze first donated 15,000 lari to the ruling party in 2024. Following the donation, from September 2024 to April 2025, his company, Nikala LLC, was awarded a simplified procurement contract worth up to 33,000 lari. During the same period, his other company, Chanko LLC, received a simplified procurement contract worth up to 20,000 GEL.

Case #6

On October 1, 2024, Zaza Kechekmadze donated 10,000 lari to the Georgian Dream. Following the donation, his company Auto Pixel LLC received simplified procurement contracts worth up to 16,000 lari. All of the contracts are with the Bakuriani Development Agency, for the repair of motor vehicles. The second company, Choice LLC, received up to 10,000 GEL, and the third company, Tqveni Mshenebeli - up to 20,000 GEL.

In the aforementioned six cases, the individuals in question donated a total of 258,000 GEL to the ruling party for the 2024 elections. After the 2024 elections, the total value of the tenders won by their various companies amounted to more than 23 million GEL, and the value of simplified procurement contracts amounted to up to 110,000 GEL.

Conclusion

The analysis revealed that in some cases individuals related to “Cartu” have been donating funds to the ruling party on the same dates, likely in an organized fashion, which may be an attempt to sidestep restrictions provided for in the law. Since donations from legal entities have been prohibited by law, donations by several individuals related to one person/company without violating the formal requirements of the law, although these donations may contradict the goals of the law, are of particular note.

Companies associated with donors receive large numbers of simplified procurement contracts without competition and also often win electronic tenders. Such a practice may indicate that companies are being financed from the state budget in exchange for political donations.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that dozens of individuals affiliated with one company donate funds to the ruling party at the same time. IDFI was able to identify several such cases in previous years and also appealed to the then supervisory body, the Audit Office, for an appropriate investigation. Since the investigation did not find such an organized action to be a violation, companies affiliated with the ruling party or receiving state tender contracts are still using this method of funding the ruling party, which may be a clear example of circumvention of the law.