Papuashvili: Over 3 Million Was Allocated for Patriarch's Funeral, 700,000 Spent

Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili says that over 3 million was allocated for the funeral process of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II, and only 700,000 has been spent. According to him, if anyone had a desire for corruption, this money would have amounted to 3 million. Papuashvili made this statement in a conversation with journalists.

This was his response to a statement by Davit Oqitashvili, head of the "Palace of Culture". Oqitashvili appealed to the prosecution via a Facebook post and demanded an investigation into how former Culture Minister Tinatin Rukhadze managed the funeral expenses of the Patriarch.

According to Papuashvili, the money was saved, and "if there were corruption, it would have been spent even in excess".

"The prime minister gave a fairly exhaustive answer on this, by citing simple numbers. If I am not mistaken, over 3 million was allocated for the funeral process. If I am not mistaken, 700,000 was fully spent. So, if anyone had a desire for corruption there, it would have amounted to 3 million.

The author of this post himself does not confirm this with his own statement; he first expressed doubt, then said that if we explain, he would also apologize.

The prime minister, exhaustively and with numbers, showed that it is impossible to talk about corruption there at all when the money has been saved. If there were corruption, it would have been spent even in excess. When we touch on such a topic, I think it is not worth having a system where speculation is made with accusations and some opinions", said Papuashvili.