The Parliament of Georgia elected Irakli Mekvabishvili, former EBRD senior banker, as the new head of the State Audit Office for a term of five years.

Speaking on his priorities on September 8, when he was presented to the legislature by Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze, Mekvabishvili pledged to focus on the Audit Office’s “further” institutional development. “I will use my 25-year experience in the banking and financial sectors for moving the State Audit Office to a qualitatively new level; the Office will become more effective, more flexible, more transparent and [more] independent,” Mekvabishvili told the MPs.
 
80 lawmakers supported Mekvabishvili’s candidacy at today’s plenary session; earlier, he was approved by the parliamentary committee for finance and budget. With that, Irakli Mekvabishvili replaced Lasha Tordia, who was appointed in 2012 and whose term in office expired in July, 2017.
 
According to Georgia’s Constitution, the State Audit Office is an independent institution accountable to the Parliament. It has the right to supervise the use of public funds by state bodies and monitor the financial activities of political parties.