Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Several Georgian former senior officials detained after questioning are accused of having established a company to make Russian energy company Inter RAO UES exempt of paying $1 million for consulting services, Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported.

Investigators of the Georgian Finance Ministry detained former Minister of Energy Alexander Khetaguri, former Minister of Education Nika Gvaramia, former Deputy Minister of Economy Kakha Damenia, as well as Devi Kandelaki, director general of Telasi, a subsidiary company of Inter RAO.

The Finance Ministry blamed Gvaramia and Khetaguri for preparing a scheme. They are believed to have issued a false document on allegedly conducted work and provided services. The money from Telasi company, Khram 1 and Khram 2 owned by Russian Inter RAO UES was transferred to the Elenem Service company.

Later Gvaramia and Damenia are said to have tried to conceal receiving $1 million through a fictitious company, called Solution Chantladze, Butidze, and reportedly registered the conducted work.

Inter RAO has confirmed hiring a consulting company to provide assessment of the tariff and tax system of Georgia, as well as to study issues related to the management of Inter RAO's Georgian assets.

"We hired it for half a year and after that it was to complete the analysis. Based of that, we planned to conclude an agreement with the taxation service of Georgia," an Inter RAO representative told RIA Novosti news agency.

Employees of the Georgian prosecution bodies and the financial police have searched the homes of Nika Gvaramia and Alexander Khetaguri. As a result of the search, computers belonging to all family members, including children, were impounded from their apartments, Trend said on Thursday.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili reportedly demanded immediate release of Gvaramia, CEO of Rustavi 2 TV company, stressing that it was unprecedented that the director of an independent TV company was arrested on "very suspicious" charges, georgiaonline.ge reported.

"This will end very quickly and very badly for those who are doing all this," Saakashvili said. "I want to warn them, nobody in Georgia will ever be able to establish a regime they are leading to, they are very close to the danger line. I am saying this as President and as a citizen. I demand to immediately release the director of the independent television channel, end this lawlessness and punish all those people who are responsible for this," the president said, adding that everything will "end well" and "much sooner than they think."

Gvaramia considers his detention as an attempt to put pressure on the TV channel's activities, News-Georgia reported referring to Gvaramia's lawyer Mamuka Chabashvili.

"My client has not been charged, and he only generally knows what he is accused of. He associates his arrest with his work in Rustavi-2, " Chabashvili said.

Employees of Rustavi 2 have asked the investigative service of the Georgian Ministry of Finance and the Prosecutor's Office to release Gvaramia and to halt the investigation, News-Georgia reported.

Georgia's parliamentary minority suspended its work in the highest legislative body of the country on Wednesday. The announcement was made by the minority group led by David Bakradze after a two-hour meeting, Trend reported.