Sopo Gelava and Eto Buziashvili, two Atlantic Council researchers whose houses were searched by the financial police two days before the election, say they now have no access to their bank accounts, with banks citing no legal justification or court order for freezing their accounts.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission Chairman Joe Wilson has already reacted to the controversial news by condemning the unofficial freezing of the accounts of U.S. institution employees. “I believe it is a direct attack on civil society by the Georgian government. I also believe it is an attack on the United States institution that employs them. If this is indicative of things to come, it is clear the Georgian Dream government is quickly descending into Russian-style authoritarianism. The government should allow the researchers to do their work without the fear of reprisals. Our MEGOBARI Act will punish those in Georgia violating the rule of law,” he said.
The Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank, the two largest banks in the country, have not given any reasons for the apparent freezing of their bank accounts. All commercial banks usually operate under the instructions of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG). We are trying to get a comment from NBG on this matter and will update the news upon receiving a response.
“What is interesting is that our bank accounts are not officially frozen, and then when we ask what is the reason [for the problem], they tell us that there is some kind of technical problem, that the accounts are blocked, suspended,” Eto Buziashvili said, noting that banks do not clarify the reason for limited access to their accounts. “This is a very strange coincidence that me and Sopo, we are both researchers on Russian influence and we are both studying disinformation in Georgia. First, just two days before the elections, they [the financial police] came to search us, and now, after four days, we in fact have no access to our accounts,” she added.
Another Atlantic Council employee, Sopo Gelava, describes the same situation. She says the bank is telling her there is a “technical error,” even though the accounts are not officially frozen. “Due to the fact that the account of my colleague in a different bank, who was also searched like me, is also blocked and she is given the same reason… I connect this [restriction of access to bank accounts] with raids,” Gelava added, stressing that the two Atlantic Council employees were not provided with the legal basis for the banks’ decision, such as, for example, a court order.
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