At the plenary session of the Georgian Parliament, held on 26 June 2013, Nodar Ebanoidze (a Majoritarian Deputy of the Kharagauli District and Member of the Parliamentary faction Georgian Dream) presented a report of a temporary committee formed to inspect the performance of the State Audit Office of Georgia in 2012. Herein, he spoke about the excessive amount of bonuses given out under the rule of the previous Government.

Giorgi Vashadze, member of the United National Movement, spoke in response to this issue and addressed Ebanoidze as follows: “It is inappropriate to talk about bonuses while the Head of the Chancellery received 22 or 25 thousand lari two weeks after Georgian Dream came to power.”

FactCheck

looked into the subject of the bonuses given to the Head of the Chancellery and checked the accuracy of Giorgi Vashadze’s statement.

After the victory of the Georgian Dream in the Parliamentary elections of 2012, a replacement of the entire executive body was on the political agenda.

On 25 October, the Parliament of Georgia approved a new government with 88 votes in favour and 54 against. The new Government officially took over the power on 26 October 2012. Since the change of the Government, the position of the Head of the Chancellery has been held by Maia Tskitishvili.

In order to check the validity of Giorgi Vashadze’s statement, we addressed the Chancellery of the Georgian Government and requested an official document listing the bonuses awarded to the employees of the Chancellery. The document states that the first bonus,given out by the new Government, was awarded in November 2012. In this month, the bonus of the Head of the Chancellery amounted to GEL 6,195.

Conclusion

As noted above, the paying of the bonuses in the Government Chancellery started in the very first month following the formation of the new Government and the Head of the Chancellery,Maia Tskitishvili, received GEL 6,195 and not “22 or 25 thousandlari” as announced by Giorgi Vashadze.

Therefore, we can conclude that Giorgi Vashadze’s statement:  “Two weeks after Georgian Dream came to power, the head of the [Government] Chancellery received a bonus of 22 or 25 thousand lari” is HALF TRUE.