have been dropped in response.4 Allegations of improper treatment of prisoners, including torture, have also spread. Sulkhan Molashvili, the former chairman of the state audit agency, claimed that he was burned with cigarettes and subjected to electric shocks while in official custody on corruption charges. 5 Human Rights Watch warned that high-level official statements praising harsh methods of fighting corruption may encourage human rights violations. Disappointingly, parliament has scarcely debated these events and few civil society groups or public figures have spoken out on the need for the government to be more accountable for its actions. This muted response can be attributed to several factors, not least of which is Saakashvili’s overwhelming popularity, having received 97 per cent of the presidential vote. The breakneck speed of political developments in Georgia and the ongoing crises in Adjaria and South Ossetia6 have absorbed public attention. The timely payment of pension and salary arrears from funds the state claims it recovered from 19 corrupt officials since January 2004 (US $23.4 million) has also boosted public support for government policy in fighting corruption.7 Early assessments of Saakashvili’s anticorruption policy thus suggest there may be reason for both optimism and concern. The current hard-line approach and proposals to increase jobs and economic growth look set to go some way towards reducing incentives for corruption, but care is also needed to protect Georgian civil liberties.
Georgia’s smuggling crisis Research by the Petroleum Advisory Group revealed that the government loses an estimated US $300 million in revenue each year from the smuggling of petroleum products, tobacco and alcohol into Georgia. Contraband, including basic products such as flour and citrus products, streams across the border.
The ministry of the interior and the state border protection service both came under scrutiny in early 2004. The former deputy interior minister resigned in March after he was charged with violations of customs regulations on imported vehicles that left a 9 million laris (US $4.4 million) shortfall in the budget for 2000–03.8 The border protection service director, Valeri Chkheidze, was accused of corruption and the head of the personnel department was arrested on charges of fraud and counterfeiting after a military investigation.9 The president has demanded an end to corruption in customs and, at the time of writing, work is currently underway, with the help of European experts, to rewrite the customs code with special attention to delineating the responsibilities of customs officials. It was also expected that legislation would be passed to ensure that in future goods will be cleared at the border rather than inside the country’s breakaway regions, the source of most of Georgia’s contraband. Major infrastructural changes will be required to ensure this happens. The head of customs also declared that he is to cut his department’s staff by nearly 400 after skills testing of current employees. However, many of those engaged in smuggling are economically and socially deprived, making any crackdown both a political and social litmus test. Until their livelihood can be enhanced by other means, it might be unwise and even dangerous to pursue a strategy that punishes the offenders without attacking the large-scale smugglers, law enforcement bodies, and corrupt officials who facilitate smuggling and permit it to continue unhindered. So far the government has not taken this risk. While it has taken some short-term anti-smuggling measures (for example, the destruction of ‘smuggler roads’), it appears more interested in an effective, long-term strategy of reform than in prosecuting smugglers who are already in desperate economic conditions. Johanna Dadiani (TI Georgia)
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