Georgian National Communications Commission has launched administrative proceedings against TV company Kavkasia TV over a donation received from the United States.
The information was made public by Nino Jangirashvili, director of Kavkasia TV, who published the letter received from the Georgian National Communications Commission. The Commission has requested a written explanation from the broadcaster within three working days.
“As you know, Kavkasia openly asks for donations — our bank account is publicly available. Completely unknown individuals donate money to us, which especially moves me. We’re talking about amounts that Imedi’s propagandists would spend on a single lunch. Apparently, the regulator discovered that one of our donors is from the United States. I truly don’t know who this dear person is. They have a Georgian first and last name. Maybe they even hold dual citizenship. I don’t know where I’m supposed to investigate this. And what exactly am I supposed to answer them? What service did I provide to the donor? What invoice did I send? Or how did we spend the money? We probably paid the electricity bill or salaries. What else would we have done with it? They simply want to exhaust us, to intimidate us so that we grow tired of living like this and leave. You won’t live to see that,” Jangirashvili wrote on social media.
Nino Jngirashvili also shared the official letter received from the Communications Commission:
“As you are aware, pursuant to Article 66(11) of the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting, “it is prohibited for a broadcaster to receive direct or indirect funding (money or other material benefit of property value) from a foreign power, except for commercial advertising, teleshopping, sponsorship and product (goods/service) placement within a program.”
Furthermore, under Article 66(12), for the purposes of this article, a “foreign power” is defined as:
a) an entity forming part of the governmental system of a foreign state;
b) a natural person who is not a citizen of Georgia;
c) a legal entity not established under the legislation of Georgia;
d) an organizational entity (including a foundation, association, corporation, union, or other type of organization) or any other form of association established under the laws of a foreign state and/or international law.According to Form 1.7 (Sources of Broadcasters’ Revenue) submitted by you to the Georgian National Communications Commission (hereinafter, the “Commission”) for the fourth quarter of 2025, during this reporting period you received income in the amount of *** GEL (type of service: donation from other persons) from the following individual: ***** ****, U.S.A.
You are requested to submit to the Commission, within three working days of receipt of this letter, detailed information regarding the services provided and the above-mentioned income, together with supporting documentation (contract, invoice, and other financial documents).
Given that, pursuant to Article 14 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia, the language of administrative proceedings is Georgian, you are asked to ensure that any relevant foreign-language documentation (if applicable) is submitted together with its official notarized translation.”
