BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 10
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Georgia has received $5.2 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from offshore companies between 2011 and 2020, Trend reports via the Transparency International (TI) Georgia.
As reported, this amounts to 38 percent of total FDIs into the country for the mentioned period.
In its survey on offshore companies, business interests and corruption threats, TI says that 3,200 companies are registered in Georgia which are partly or fully owned from offshore.
The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say that high ranking Georgian officials, who are banned from doing business, may own several offshore companies and participate in state procurement this way.
The NGO says that the companies registered offshore own up to 160 large and medium enterprises and companies in the country like Tbilisi Energy, Beeline, Rustavi Auto Market, Batumi International Container Terminal, Rustavi Steel and others.
TI Georgia says that six offshore companies received state properties via direct privatization between 2012 and 2020, while three of them received the property at a symbolic price.
"Some 15 offshore companies received state properties via the auctions,” said the NGO.
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