The Democracy Research Institute continues to monitor the finances and donors of the far-right violent group Conservative Movement/Alt-Info. In August 2023, the radical movement received only one donation.

The amount of officially declared donations to the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info from 2022 to August 31 2023 is GEL 590,931. Compared to 2022, official donations have been sharply reduced in 2023. The Democracy Research Institute has talked about the above earlier too. The amount of money donated to the violent organization from February to August 2022 amounted to GEL 367,901, while from January to August of this year, the donation was only GEL 29,967.

In August 2023, the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info received only one donation. If we compare these data to August 2022, 17 donations were made during that period and they amounted a total of GEL 23,380.

Month	Money donated in 2022	Money donated in 2023
January	--	12.640
February	47.775	7.834
March	56.360	1.250
April	61.633	2.960
May	50.476	2.090
June	65.840	1.500
July	62.437	1.143
August	23.380	550
September	34.965
October	66.480
November	40.083
December	51.535

 

The Democracy Research Institute got interested in what caused such a sharp change in the amount donated, and asked this question to the leader of the radical group, Konstantine Morgoshia. As Morgoshia says, their donors are victims of repression by the banks and he remains the main financier of the party.

Kakhaber Elizbarashvili remains the biggest donor to the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info. The Democracy Research Institute has already reported about this earlier. He has donated GEL 42,295 to the group. Zurab Kobakhidze is in the second place. The amount of money donated by him is GEL 41,693. The third biggest donor is Goga Tukhareli, the fourth - Giga Kobakhidze, and the fifth - Merab Gigani.

Among the biggest donors of the radical movement, only Kakhaber Elizbarashvili and Merab Gigani own real estate. Elizbarashvili is the owner of 50% of Dabo LLC. Two companies are registered under the name of Merab Gigani, Technometals LLC and Gigan-007 LLC. Gigani is also the head of the violent group's Rustavi regional office.

In addition to the fact that Kakhaber Elizbarashvili, Zurab Kobakhidze and Merab Gigani are the most active donors, they are also members of the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info and are actively involved in the activities of the political group.

From 2022 to July 2023, the political group had 102 donors. 101 of them are natural persons, and one is a legal entity. The Democracy Research Institute studied the data of each donor and only 33 of them own real estate. 30 donors are heads of regional offices.

The Conservative Movement/Alt-Info started opening regional offices in January 2022. In a short time, they opened 64 regional offices across Georgia. However, in August 2022, it was reported[1] that up to 10 regional offices were closed.

The Democracy Research Institute got interested in how many regional offices are currently operational. According to Konstantine Morgoshia, about 5 offices were closed, while several offices simply changed their location. According to him, the number of regional offices is about 59.

DRI also got interested in how actively these offices were functioning. After studying the social networks of the party leaders and donors, it turns out that on February 17, 2023, a meeting was held at the Gori regional office, the head of which is Gela Megrelishvili. His name is not among the donors of the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info.

The activity of other regional offices is not visible on the social network of the political group.

Along with the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info, DRI also examined the finances of Alt-Info TV company. According to the analytical website of the Communications Commission, the main financier of the TV company is its owner Tsiala Morgoshia. She is the aunt of Konstantine Morgoshia, under whose name Morgoshia has registered seven companies, including Alt-Info LLC. However, the main financier of the TV company is Konstantine Morgoshia, and he confirmed this in a conversation with the Democracy Research Institute.

Quarter	Income
1st quarter of 2022	225.927
2nd quarter of 2022	237.540
3rd quarter of 2022	287.220
4th quarter of 2022	234.220
1st quarter of 2023	208.500
2nd quarter of 2023	152.400

 

In 2022, the financing of Alt-Info TV company was GEL 984,887. During one year, GEL 776,971 was spent for the broadcasting services. Excluding the service costs, the one-year budget of the TV company is only 211,916 GEL, which is not even enough for the salaries of the employees.[2] In 2022, Konstantine Morgoshia told the Democracy Research Institute that approximately 80 people were employed in the TV company. As for salaries, according to DRI, the company's driver's salary is GEL 1,000. If the average salary of the employees working in the company is GEL 1,000, at least GEL 960,000 must have been spent on salaries during one year.

According to the data of the first and second quarters of 2023,[3] the service costs amounts to GEL 343,148, and the income of the TV company is GEL 360,900. The budget of the TV company, excluding the service costs, is only GEL 17,753. If the average salary of the employees is GEL 1,000 and the number of employees is 80, from January 2023 to June 2023, GEL 480,000 must have been spent on the salaries of the employees of the TV company.

It is noteworthy that from September to October 2023, Alt-Info TV announced vacancies for the following positions: voiceover actor, broadcast employee, journalist. The TV company has also announced paid internships for journalists. It seems that, despite the officially declared scarce funding, the number of employees in the TV company is increasing.

Although the donations and finances of the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info are drastically reduced compared to 2022, both the party and the TV company continue to operate as usual. This fact raises a suspicion that the income of the radical group may be much higher than it is officially reported.

 

 

 

 

[1] radiotavisupleba.ge, “The Conservative Movement closes up to 10 offices - Does Alt-Info have a financial problem?, August 10, 2022, available at:

https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/31982341.html

[2] Broadcasting service costs include the Internet and other administrative costs, lease, audit, utility, digital terrestrial multiplex and security service costs.       

[3] From January to June 2023.