Georgia’s former PM arrested
Former Georgian Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili and former Health Minister Zurab Chiaberashvili have been arrested and charged with embezzling public funds.
They are close associates of President Mihkeil Saakashvili and members of his United National Movement party.
Georgia's Interior Ministry said the two former officials were summoned to the prosecutor's office in the western city of Kutaisi on May 21.
Investigators questioned them regarding the alleged misuse of money meant for a program to fight unemployment.
A court will decide if the two should be held in pretrial detention or if they will be eligible for bail.
Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream bloc defeated Saakashvili's party in the general elections last October.
Since then, many of Saakashvili's allies have come under investigation or been charged with wrongdoing.
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