Top executive officials in Tbilisi detained in embezzlement probe
By Nazrin Gadimova
Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi Davit Alavidze and three other senior officials from the Georgian capital city's municipality were arrested late on June 28 in connection with an ongoing investigation into mismanagement and embezzlement of over GEL 48.9 million (around $29.6 million).
The three other officials are Davit Avaliani, head of the Tbilisi Development Fund at the capital city's municipality; Alexi Tabuashvili, head of the procurement service in the Mayor's Office, and Dimitri Chkheidze, deputy head of the capital city's Krtsanisi district.
If convicted, they can be sentenced to a term of 7-11 years.
The Finance Ministry's investigations service said in a statement that it has been established that Tbilisi's deputy mayor and the three other arrested officials "along with other persons, have embezzled and misspent" the above-mentioned amount of funds.
It also said that charges would be filed against "member of the criminal group", former head of the Tbilisi Development Fund, Giorgi Sabanadze, who is now at large.
The investigations body also said it would provide details relating to the case on June 28.
Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava reacted to his staff's detention by an emergency press conference at night, calling the detentions unlawful.
"As the NATO Secretary General left the country, they started arrests on trumped-up charges again. In doing so, they are trying to put pressure on the Tbilisi Sakrebulo (City Council, a representative body in the city government), where our party, United National Movement, retains a majority," he said.
President Mikheil Saakashvili's UNM party says that the arrests are part of the authorities' campaign to pressure the opposition, which they believe also harms Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
Earlier, former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili and former Health Minister Zurab Chiaberashvili were charged with embezzling public funds. They were summoned to the regional prosecutor's office in Kutaisi on May 21 where investigators questioned them regarding the alleged misuse of money meant for a program to fight unemployment.