The press office of "Georgian Dream" responded to the information spread by the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Project (OCCRP) about Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairperson of "Georgian Dream."

The party's press office reiterated that their decision not to cooperate with OCCRP was justified.

"Once again, we respond to the information spread by the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Project (OCCRP) in response to our statement about Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairperson of "Georgian Dream."

We remind the public that the organization mentioned spread a lie a few days ago, as if the Ivanishvili family bought the property in Moscow months ago. Based on the fact that after 1998, the honorary chairman of the management team and his family members did not buy any property in Russia and did not travel to this country, we easily exposed false information with unmistakable facts.

It seems that the media with a particular reputation felt uncomfortable due to being exposed in the lie and released another absurd statement to justify itself. OCCRP writes that their article was not about Bidzina Ivanishvili but about her wife, Ekaterine Khvedelidze. The possession of the property in Russia, which this organization tried to describe as a "newly discovered scandal," was first made public by Bidzina Ivanishvili when she filled out the property declaration in 2013 and, in accordance with the law, indicated the assets in the name of family members, including her husband.

At the same time, the organization that claims to be "investigative journalism" should know that the declaration form has the column of family members because it is considered joint property and their self-righteousness as if the article was only about Ekaterine Khvedelidze and not about Bidzina Ivanishvili, is weak to avoid lying. It's an attempt.

In addition, the mentioned organization tried to introduce the topic of the Georgian offshore law into the agenda, but there is no point in getting involved in this issue. If the law is correct, legally sophisticated, and brings only good to Georgia, this is a good report to the society. And with the media, which does not understand the simple rules of the declaration, it makes no sense to talk about the complex offshore architecture.

Once again, we are convinced that there was no alternative decision when we refrained from cooperating with this organization. We hope that articles of similar content will at least meet the minimum standard of integrity and competence at other times," reads the statement.

The statement comes after the OCCRP journalists allegedly discovered that Ivanishvili's wife's assets in Russia continue to grow. This year, she acquired a new property. Among her previously unreported assets are another house and two adjacent plots of land near Peredelkino (an elite dacha community in the Moscow region). And a company linked to Ivanishvili owns 2.7 hectares of land in the neighborhood. Journalists have studied the prices of similar properties. According to their estimates, the value of the billionaire's family assets is at least $14.7 million.