GD Offers to Retain State Inspector Staff in New Bodies, Excludes Leadership

Georgian Dream chair Irakli Kobakhidze today proposed to amend the controversial bill dissolving the State Inspector’s Service to envisage retaining the agency’s some 120-strong staff in the proposed new bodies. The proposal does not explicitly cover State Inspector Londa Toloraia or her deputies, however.

The new initiative comes as the ruling GD party seems to be partially backing down after the initiative to abolish the agency, dismiss its staff, and establish separate bodies for probing abuse of power and protecting personal data triggered an outcry of civil society, the opposition and foreign diplomats.

The GD chair said in the first hearing of the bill at the Parliament, the staff of the State Inspector’s investigation department would automatically retain their posts in the new investigative body.

The same would apply for employees of the Oversight Departments for the Public Sector, the Private Sector and the Law Enforcement as well as the Personal Data Protection Advisor, who would all be transferred to the new data privacy agency.

MP Kobakhidze noted that as the seven other departments of the State Inspector’s Service carry out administrative functions, the staff would be able to opt for working at either of the proposed new agencies.

The bill has been since been taken back to Parliament’s Bureau, and is expected to clear the first hurdle during the December 30 extraordinary session. Georgian Dream lawmakers have fast-tracked the hearings are hoping to push the controversial legislation through all three hearings in an expedited process.

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