Police Seize ‘Patarkatsishvili’s Smuggled Money’

Police arrested three men for allegedly smuggling USD 120,000 into Georgia intended for candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili’s campaign, Eka Zguladze, the deputy interior minister, said on January 5.

“The suspects refused to give the origin of this money, but in their testimony they claimed that the money was intended for the Patarkatsishvili campaign,” she said.

Zguladze also said the suspects had said that at least USD 60,000 had been previously smuggled into the country from Russia via breakaway South Ossetia. The money on that occasion, she said, was also intended for the Patarkatsishvili campaign.