On September 18, the National Bank of Georgia issued a statement on the U.S. sanctions imposed on Georgians for undermining democracy, saying that the sanctions will not be implemented by the Georgian financial sector until the Georgian court rules “the legally binding verdict.”
The NBG refers to last year’s order of the Vice-President of the NBG entitled “On Approval of the Procedure for Implementation of Sanctions Regimes by Accountable Persons under the Supervision of the National Bank of Georgia”, which states that “the sanctions regime shall apply to the citizen of Georgia in the event that a legally binding verdict of guilt has been issued by the court of Georgia regarding the basis of the imposed sanctions”.
The NBG order was issued last year in the wake of the sanctioning by the US of former Prosecutor General Otar Partskhaladze for channeling malign Russian influence. The NBG order effectively shielded Partskhaladze through the decision. The NBG thus claims that the sanctions will be imposed by the Georgian financial sector “if a legally binding guilty verdict is issued by the Georgian court” [whose four judges, members of a so-called “judicial clan” are also notably sanctioned by the U.S.]
The NBG says it “systematically monitors the implementation of international sanctions, as well as the implementation of its own regulations and national legislation by individual participants of the financial sector.” It also emphasizes that “the Georgian financial sector operates in full compliance with the requirements of the sanctions regime”, and claims that “Georgia has never been and will never be a place of sanctions evasion.”
Former NBG President Roman Gotsiridze held a briefing in which he criticized the NBG statement and stressed that the statement is very confusing for the banks in Georgia because it simultaneously says that the Georgian financial sector should fully implement the sanctions, which would mean that the bank accounts of the sanctioned persons should be frozen immediately, and at the same time it says that the sanctions won’t be applied until the Georgian court’s decision. Gotsiridze called on the NBG to clarify to banks what they should do.
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