28 people have been arrested and charged in connection with 14 criminal cases uncovered during large-scale anti-corruption operations across nine regions of Georgia, Emzar Gagnidze, head of the State Security Service’s (SSSG) Anti-Corruption Agency, said at a July 14 briefing.
According to Gagnidze, the detainees face criminal charges in cases involving bribery, the production and distribution of forged official documents, group commercial bribery, fraudulent appropriation of state-owned property and land, and abuse of official authority. The identities of the arrested individuals have not been disclosed.
The arrests come amid the Georgian Dream government’s stated commitment to an “uncompromising” fight against corruption.
Procurement Fraud
Three people were arrested and 11 charged in five criminal cases involving the alleged embezzlement of state funds through public procurement, Gagnidze said.
According to him, the cases concern road, drinking water network, and public school reconstruction projects in the the Tsalka, Akhaltsikhe, and Tetritskaro municipalities, where “during the execution of road sections, internal drinking water network, and public-school reconstruction works by various private companies, tens of thousands of GEL were fraudulently appropriated through falsified documentation and other unlawful actions.”
He added that the investigation also found that several of the accused individuals, under separate state procurement contracts, supplied Easter food products of different brands in smaller quantities than required, as well as low-quality disinfectants, under tenders for Tbilisi kindergartens and Batumi free canteens. As a result, “the state sustained damage totaling GEL 669,497 [USD 255,000],” Gagnidze said.
Illegal Seizure of State Land
Seven people have been charged in three criminal cases involving the alleged fraudulent acquisition of state-owned land, abuse of official authority, and official forgery.
According to Gagnidze, the cases involve representatives of the Dmanisi, Gurjaani, and Tsalka municipal city halls and councils (sakrebulo), “who, at various times, through abuse of official authority and based on forged documentation, fraudulently seized a total of 91,564 square meters of state-owned land, causing damage to the state totaling GEL 397,804 [USD 151,000].”
Bribery
Three people were arrested in three separate criminal cases.
According to the investigation, representatives of the Lanchkhuti and Tetritskaro municipal city halls and the Oni Forestry Service accepted bribes from Georgian and foreign citizens in exchange for “allowing the placement and subsequent protection of a mobile trade facility, a so-called ‘drive,’ on state-owned land, transferring a state-owned land plot for setting up an apiary and providing subsequent protection; and promising to allow the illegal felling and removal of oak from a forest plot.”
Forged Documents, Commercial Bribery
Finally, Gagnidze spoke about three criminal cases involving the alleged production and distribution of forged official documents and group commercial bribery, in which four people were arrested.
“The investigation found that the detainees, at various times, took bribes in exchange for producing and distributing a forged driver’s license, a forged Georgian citizen’s passport, and a forged bachelor’s diploma from a private higher education institution,” he said.
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