Plea deals will be offered to jailed former Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze and his relative, Vasil Mkheidze, as prosecutors bring new bribery charges against the two in a Defense Ministry medical equipment procurement case also involving former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
Burchuladze and Mkheidze are already serving multi-year sentences in connection with the same case, but on separate charges of abuse of office and money laundering. The new charges come some two weeks after the charges of bribe-taking were brought against jailed ex-PM Garibashvili as part of the same proceedings. Prosecutors noted at the time that the new charges against Garibashvili were based on Burchuladze and Mkheidze’s testimonies, and that the latter two were “already convicted” in connection with the same case, including Burchuladze serving a 10-year sentence.
Charges against Garibashvili, who is already serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty in a money laundering case, followed his allegations that a group within the Georgian Dream government pressured him to take the blame in a forthcoming corruption case as a guarantee to keep him out of politics.
While prosecutors say they will seek reduced sentences for Burchuladze and Mkheidze through plea agreements in connection with the new charges, it remains unclear whether the deals will affect the 10- and 8-year sentences the two are already serving.
New Charges and Plea Deals
According to the September 8 statement by the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office, Burchuladze has been charged with taking a particularly large bribe by a group under prior agreement, while Mkheidze has been charged with aiding in the taking of a bribe.
Citing the “degree of cooperation” with the investigation, the prosecutors said they would seek plea agreements with Burchuladze and Mkheidze at their first court hearing. Under the prosecution’s proposed agreement, Burchuladze would receive a five-year prison sentence, of which three years would be served in a penitentiary and two years suspended. He would also be fined GEL 1 million.
Mkheidze would receive a four-year-and-two-month sentence, with one year and two months to be served in prison and three years suspended, alongside a GEL 100,000 fine. The charges themselves carry prison terms of 11 to 15 years under the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code.
The charges stem from an alleged Defense Ministry procurement scheme dating to late 2022, when Garibashvili was Prime Minister, and Burchuladze was Defense Minister.
According to the prosecutors, in 2022, when Garibashvili was Prime Minister and Burchuladze was Defense Minister, Mkheidze reached an agreement with a business acquaintance to tailor the tender for medical equipment and inventory to ensure his company’s victory, asking in return for 10% of the total contract value to be paid to him in cash.
Prosecutors allege that, after receiving what they describe as Garibashvili’s “full official protection,” and on Burchuladze’s instructions, then-Deputy Defense Minister Giorgi Khaindrava and then-head of the ministry’s Procurement Department Vladimer Ghudushauri created “a non-competitive environment” for the purchase of medical equipment and inventory for the Giorgi Abramishvili Military Hospital.
As a result, the value of goods and services purchased under three classified procurement contracts was “artificially increased,” and “the companies connected with the above-mentioned persons supplied the Ministry of Defence of Georgia with medical equipment and other inventory valued at 11,499,705 GEL for 18,484,960 GEL.”
The businessman allegedly paid Mkheidze approximately GEL 1.9 million, representing roughly 10% of the contract value. Prosecutors say Mkheidze kept GEL 400,000 and handed the remaining GEL 1.5 million to Burchuladze. Burchuladze, in turn, allegedly kept 750,000 GEL for himself and passed the other half to Garibashvili in several installments.
“As a result of the aforementioned actions, the state suffered substantial property damage amounting to GEL 6,985,255, and the public interest was seriously violated,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.
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