Newly appointed General-Director of the Public Broadcasting Tamar Kintsurashvili said on August 30 that she has requested that the Financial Police launch a probe in order to track the financial wrongdoings which led to the accumulation of “a huge debt” - 6 million Lari (USD 3,3 million) by the television.

“The current leadership of the television can not assume responsibility for these irregularities and we asked that law enforcers investigate,” Kintsurashvili said at a news conference on August 30.

The influential non-governmental organization Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has demanded that law enforcers investigate financial irregularities at State Television, which has just recently been transformed into Public Broadcasting, after the organization carried out financial monitoring of the TV. GYLA even demanded that criminal charges be brought against Zaza Shengelia, ex-chief of the television, for alleged misappropriation of funds.

In an interview with Civil Georgia on August 20, Tamar Kintsurashvili said that there is “absolute disorder” in the issues related to the television’s finances and property.
 
“We should immediately carry out an inventory of property. It is impossible now to find out what kind of property the television owns. According to the documentation, quite a large amount of money has been spent in recent years for upgrading the television’s equipment. But the reality is that the TV still urgently needs a technical upgrade and no one knows where the money went,” Kintsurashvili said.