Regional Chief Vows Crackdown on Corruption in Soviet Georgia

The successor to new Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze as Communist Party leader in Georgia has announced a top-to-bottom cleanup of “utter corruption” in the Soviet republic, according to a regional newspaper that arrived in Moscow on Thursday.

Dzhumbar I. Patiashvili, first secretary of the Georgian party, was quoted by the party’s official newspaper, Dawn of the East, as telling a group of party activists on Aug. 3 that the republic was riddled with corruption.

He aimed his fire principally at unnamed officials of ministerial rank, declaring that they were “traitors in the full sense of the word.” He also accused them of “direct sabotage” of cleanup efforts.

Patiashvili’s predecessor Shevardnadze had earned a national reputation for an anti-corruption campaign after he became the party leader in Georgia in 1972. Shevardnadze was said to have wielded an “iron broom” in sweeping out abuses, but the publication of Patiashvili’s strongly worded speech, however, indicates that corruption continues to flourish in the free-wheeling republic.

While they represent less than 2% of the Soviet Union’s population, Georgians are reported to be the second only to the Armenians as the nation’s wealthiest group.

In the past, spot checks by police have indicated that up to one-third of the people in Georgia do not work for the state. Instead, they engage in private buying and selling operations that are outlawed as “parasitism” or “speculation.”

In his speech, Patiashvili warned “there are no irreplaceable men,” even in the top ranks of the party, and said the strictest standards would be set for all of them.

He also said the authorities tried to enforce rules against speculation in Georgia’s private marketplaces but ran into strong opposition on every hand.

“We are facing some very well organized elements in our republic,” he said, alluding to criminal gangs who allegedly control the markets there.