The circumstances surrounding the detention of Giorgi Bachiashvili and Georgia’s abrupt change of stance fuel suspicions of a possible deal between Tbilisi and Abu Dhabi, with implications for the upcoming UN Tourism electoral process.
Mere hours before the UN Tourism General Assembly is set to vote on the renewal of the Secretary-General’s mandate, new revelations published by international media and reported by agencies such as ServiMedia suggest a possible agreement between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Georgia that may have influenced the organisation’s electoral process.
At the heart of the matter is the recent arrest of Giorgi Bachiashvili, a prominent Georgian investment executive and outspoken critic of oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. Bachiashvili, who had spent months in exile in the UAE, was detained on 27 May on charges of embezzlement linked to cryptocurrency dealings. He has denied the accusations, claiming they are politically motivated and stem from his estrangement from the ruling elite in Georgia and his public support for Ukraine.
According to outlets such as Civil Georgia and The Guardian, the arrest may have been facilitated through cooperation between the UAE and the Georgian government. What appears at first glance to be a legal matter coincides with another development of considerable institutional weight: Georgia’s sudden withdrawal of support for Zurab Pololikashvili, the incumbent Secretary-General of UN Tourism, who is seeking a third term.
Tbilisi’s decision to withdraw its backing—announced just two weeks before the vote—took the diplomatic community by surprise, particularly as it was accompanied by Georgia’s endorsement of the Emirati candidate. Various sources suggest that this shift may have been part of a broader understanding between the two countries, in which the extradition of Bachiashvili served as a political concession in exchange for a change in voting alignment within the international organisation.
Zurab Pololikashvili, a seasoned diplomat with a long track record in Georgian public service and multilateral cooperation, has declined to comment publicly on the alleged quid pro quo. However, those close to him have expressed concern over what they describe as the “politicisation of judicial and diplomatic processes for electoral gain.”
Civil society and several human rights organisations have voiced alarm at what they see as a worrying erosion of institutional integrity in Georgia. Transparency International Georgia has denounced the Bachiashvili case as a “judicial process manipulated by private interests,” while human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam has described the trial as “rigged” and urged the international community to respond to the deterioration of the rule of law in the Caucasus nation.
The UN Tourism elections, scheduled for 29 and 30 May, are taking place against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tension, where regional power dynamics appear to have encroached upon an agency historically committed to safeguarding its technical and institutional neutrality.
In light of these developments, several voices within the diplomatic and multilateral community are calling for full transparency in the electoral process and for robust safeguards to protect the independence of international institutions from external pressure that could undermine their legitimacy and credibility.
