(Tbilisi. December 20. Civil Georgia) – Former Tax Revenue Minister Mikheil Machavariani denied the accusations of President Shevardnadze in corruption and called his criticism an attempt to discredit reformers’ team.
On December 19 President Shevardnadze slammed former Tax Revenue Minister Mikheil Machavariani and the reforms he passed in the ministry. “The only result of reforms was that the former chiefs of the ministry stole as much as it was possible. I do not want reforms like this,” Eduard Shevardnadze stated at the government meeting yesterday.
“The reforms were passed with the US assistance and none of the ministry high officials were related with the funding of reforms,” Mikheil Machavariani stated today.
Mikheil Machavariani quitted the post of the Tax Revenue Minister in August 15 2001 over disagreement with government policies. He is regarded to be the reformers’ team member. Machavariani intends to run through by-elections in Georgia’s Gurjaani provincial election district in 2002.
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