Georgia
Gakharia appears before anti-UNM commission, grilled by ex-colleagues over his once-praised tenure
It was unclear until the last moment whether Giorgi Gakharia would even attend the commission’s hearing.
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Become a memberAccording to the Georgian TV channel Formula, citing an anonymous source, Vakhtang Gomelauri is expected to resign as Interior Minister and will be replaced by the leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze.
On Sunday, Formula’s programme ‘Droeba’ reported that the information was provided to the channel by a source from the Interior Ministry.
‘According to a source from Droeba, changes are also expected at the level of Deputy Ministers of Internal Affairs’, Formula reported.
Neither government officials nor the Interior Ministry or parliament have made any official comments regarding the reported departmental changes.
Gomelauri held the post of Interior Minister for a term of up to seven months in 2015, and was reappointed to the position in 2019.
In between, he served as the head of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG).
Though an MP since 2016, Mdinaradze has never been in the executive branch.
‘The current minister, Vakhtang Gomelauri, has already discussed this topic with a group of senior officials of the Ministry’, Formula reported.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of changes in the government, including in the Cabinet of Ministers.
In the beginning of April, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that Grigol Liluashvili had left his position as the head of SSG and would take up a new position as Minister of Regional Development.
Head of Georgia’s State Security Service demoted to Minister of Regional Development
Critics have accused the government of using Liluashvili’s new position in order to ‘secure the regions for elections’.
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On 4 April, Kobakhidze announced that Kakhaber Guledani would head the newly created ministry instead of Liluashvili.
Liluashvili was replaced by Anri Okhanashvili, who previously held the post of Minister of Justice.
Kobakhidze also announced that Paata Salia, a member of the parliamentary majority, would be appointed to replace Okhanashvili as Justice Minister.
Shortly after, Tornike Rizhvadze resigned from his position as head of the Autonomous Government of Adjara via a Facebook post. He was replaced by the head of Tbilisi police, Sulkhan Tamazashvili.
Tornike Rizhvadze resigns as head of the Autonomous Government of Adjara
He informed the public about his decision to resign in a Facebook post.
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