Bank account of opposition coalition Lelo – Strong Georgia frozen, party alleges political pressure

The official bank account of the opposition coalition Lelo - Strong Georgia has been frozen, prompting accusations of politically motivated interference by the ruling party, Georgian Dream. The claim was made by Irakli Kupradze, a leading figure within the coalition.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kupradze described the account freeze as "a pitiful attempt" to obstruct the opposition's work ahead of the October 4 municipal elections, accusing the government of mounting a coordinated attack on pro-Western political forces.

“This is not just an isolated act - this is a campaign. For the past five days, the so-called Anti-Corruption Agency, along with the Ministry of Justice and the National Bureau of Enforcement, has targeted our coalition and its founder, Mamuka Khazaradze,” Kupradze said.

He claimed the action was part of a broader strategy by the ruling party to suppress dissent and undermine Western-oriented opposition, linking the move to previous tensions between Georgian Dream and the German ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer. Kupradze noted that the freezing of accounts coincided with calls by ruling party figures to expel the ambassador, a development he described as “absurd political theatre.”

“This is how the Georgian Dream regime works - freezing party accounts, attacking diplomats, and launching personal smear campaigns. But no matter how many bank accounts they freeze, we will continue our fight against Ivanishvili’s violent, Russian-style regime,” he added, referring to the ruling party's founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The developments come amid an ongoing investigation by the Anti-Corruption Bureau into the financial disclosures of Khazaradze.

The agency said on Wednesday it was reviewing whether Khazaradze’s asset declaration fully reflected property owned by his family and related lease agreements - particularly one involving the German Ambassador to Georgia. 

The bureau has publicly said it was examining whether the omission of the rental agreement in Khazaradze’s declaration was intentional and whether it constituted a violation of asset disclosure laws or an attempt to conceal taxable income. Special attention was being paid to whether the leased property and related financial transactions were reported correctly.

The investigation was triggered after Georgia’s Revenue Service began a probe into reports that the German Ambassador had been leasing an apartment owned by Khazaradze’s family. Although Khazaradze later confirmed that the contract was legally registered and taxes fully paid, authorities said his family only contacted the tax office after media reports questioned the existence of the lease agreement.