Against the backdrop of low public trust[1] and corporatism in the justice system, special importance is attached to the transparent disposal of budgetary resources in the judiciary. One of the fundamental components of judicial independence is remuneration and its regulation in such a way as to neutralize the risks of informal influence on judges and other entities involved in the court administration system as well as the risks of rewarding remuneration according to the corporate interests.

The Georgian legislation assigns important powers to the High Council of Justice in the process of determining the remuneration for representatives of the judiciary. Against the background of the already excessive power concentrated in the Council, the wide discretion to regulate and award wages, which is used vaguely and non-transparently in practice, directly increases the risks of clan culture and undue influence on individuals in the judiciary.

The present document examines the practice of paying wages and bonuses to the members of the High Council of Justice, as well as to the independent inspector, in 2021-2022. The document is based on the analysis of relevant legislation and information requested from public agencies.

It should be noted that access to public information was a serious obstacle when studying the issue, because relevant agencies provided information on remuneration incompletely, in a generalized form, and in many cases, in substantial violation of the deadline set by the legislation.[2] Such a reality makes it even more difficult to determine the amount of wages paid in the judicial system, and to assess their legitimacy/reasonableness, and ultimately, it creates another example of the non-transparency of the system.

It should be emphasized that the Social Justice Center welcomes the creation of decent working conditions for individuals employed in the court system. Moreover, the organization notes that the official salary amounts determined today by the organic law "On Common Courts" may not create a prerequisite for fair compensation for the judge's work. Accordingly, the objective of the document is not to reduce the amount of remuneration, but to ensure its fairness and the transparency of the decision-making process in such a way that arbitrariness and conflicts of interest by the High Council of Justice are excluded in this process.

During the study of the issue, the following problematic issues were identified:

• The legislation does not regulate in detail the issue of remuneration for the members of the Council and the Independent Inspector, which increases the risks of arbitrariness and conflict of interests in the decision-making process;
• A large part of the bonuses is not based on merit, but are issued without any reason and automatically - they are given every month to all members of the Council;
• Decisions on granting the bonus are, in most cases, unsubstantiated and templated;
• The Council and the Supreme Court provide incomplete public information related to bonus system; the issue of pro-active publication of relevant normative acts is also problematic;
• The majority of the judicial members of the Council receive a triple bonus on the official salary in some months;
• Non-judge members of the Council and the Independent Inspector receive the bonus without the corresponding normative basis;
• The factual salary of the non-judge members of the Council is higher than the amount stipulated by the law;
• The Council violates the legal obligation to publish the decision on granting the bonus to the non-judicial members and the independent inspector;
• The Independent Inspector is not obliged by law to submit a declaration of financial status.

This document has been prepared in the framework of the project "Support the independent and fair judiciary" which is implemented by Social Justice Center with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of Social Justice Center. The information and assessments provided in the document do not necessarily reflect the views of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia.

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