Tbilgazi Top Executive Arrested

Giorgi Gvichiani, a top executive of the state-owned Tbilgazi – the gas distribution company in Tbilisi – was arrested on March 7 on suspicions of masterminding murder of Nika Lominadze, the financial manager of the electricity distribution company Telasi in 2002.

Gvichiani himself denied any links with Lominadze’s murder. “I have enemies,” he told reporters. 

During the period of Nika Lominadze’s murder, Giorgi Gvichiani served as the commercial director of Telasi.

Police already arrested Gvichiani once in June 2003 on charges of financial fraud, however he was released on bail through the mediation of several Georgian MPs.

Last year Gvichiani was appointed as Director-General of the Tbilgazi company, reportedly with the recommendation of Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava.