According to the Georgian opposition party Droa, the National Bureau of Enforcement has frozen the bank accounts of both the party and its leader, Elene Khoshtaria. According to Droa’s lawyer, the freeze on the party’s accounts is related to an allegedly unpaid court fee dating back to 2021.
The information about the freeze was first shared by Khoshtaria on social media on Tuesday. The party told OC Media that both Droa and Khoshtaria herself learned about the punitive measure via SMS notifications.
Later, the party’s lawyer, Ketevan Barbakadze, clarified that the action was based on the claim that the party failed to pay a ₾50 ($18) court fee during an appeal of the 2021 local municipal election results.
According to Barbakadze, Droa had requested a recount of the election results in all ten electoral districts of Tbilisi at the time, none of which were granted by the court. She denied that the party had failed to pay the required court fees.
‘We had paid the fees […] A complaint won’t even be registered unless the fee is paid. I have no legal explanation for what they’ve come up with, how they calculated the amount, or what exactly they’re demanding. It’s absurd’, she added.
Barbakadze said that she has not yet received the court’s official decision and is not fully informed of all the case details. However, according to verbal information from the Enforcement Bureau, the asset freeze related specifically to the appeal of the election results in the Nadzaladevi district.
She also received information that proceedings had been initiated regarding the fees for the remaining nine districts as well, leaving the party uncertain about the total amount ultimately being sought by the court.
Barbakadze also noted that the asset freeze was imposed without any prior notice to the party.
‘Even if we assume there is something we actually owe, the court should have first notified the party […] and only then referred the case to the Enforcement Bureau. They skipped the voluntary enforcement stage entirely and directly froze the party’s accounts’, she added.
According to Barbakadze, the freeze on Khoshtaria’s personal accounts is a separate issue and likely related to one of the recent unpaid fines issued against her.
In just over a month, the politician has been fined three times — including a ₾4,000 ($1,500) fine on 19 June for ‘insulting’ Georgian Dream’s parliamentary leader Mamuka Mdinaradze in a social media post.
‘You’ll never see a single fine paid by me, nor will I appear for any interrogation or court hearing’, Khoshtaria wrote in Tuesday’s social media post.
She added that the party’s donations are ‘in a safe place’ and were not affected by the freeze.
However, Droa’s lawyer emphasised that the party needs access to its account in order to function properly.
OC Media reached out to the press service of Tbilisi City Court for comment, but has not received a response as of publication.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
