Georgia’s agriculture minister resigns (UPDATE)
Georgia's Minister of Agriculture David Kirvalidze has resigned prior to completion of the investigation into corruption in the ministry. He announced his resignation on Thursday before a meeting of the Government of Georgia at the State Chancellery.
"I take political responsibility for corruption and resign in order to not hinder the investigation," he said.
Kirvalidze hopes the investigation will objectively investigate the corruption case.
Earlier, officers of the Georgia's Anti-Corruption Agency under the Interior Ministry detained the head of a department of the Ministry of Agriculture Omar Tedoradze, the director of the Institute of Mechanization of the ministry Zaza Makharoblidze, the director of Mekhanizator LLC Vaja Nakhutsrishvili and his deputies Mamuka Ivanidze and Besik Tetvadze and the Professor of the Agricultural University Otar Karchava.
As reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, those detained are charged with misappropriation of budget funds and professional negligence. In particular, it is about embezzlement of two million lari ($1 = 1.66 lari) of the 54 million lari allocated from the budget for agricultural purposes.