Georgian Dream’s Ex-Officials and Business Associates in Hot Water
Dominant Party Targets Ex-Associates with Laws, Arrests, 'Anti-Corruption' Drive
Georgian Dream leaders have been ramping up anti-corruption rhetoric, but recent criminal prosecutions and legislative moves suggest the party is going through an internal purge and retributions.
“We will be fully uncompromising with corruption,” the Georgian Dream Prime Minister told the one-party parliament while presenting his annual report on June 27. The report came amid a wave of surprise resignations and barely explained reshuffles within the GD government. Kobakhidze said that “conscientiousness” would be “the main criterion for selecting the new team in the Georgian government.”
The Georgian Dream is backing the words with laws. A legislative package is making its way through the one-party parliament, introducing what’s seen as draconian measures to combat financial crime. The bill, which has cleared two readings and is expected to be adopted this fall, would bar individuals convicted of financial crimes from leaving the country for years, while also allowing authorities to recover assets from the convict’s relatives and penalize others for offering minimal assistance.
With this menace hanging over their heads, the Georgian Dream officials and former business associates of the party’s patron, Bidzina Ivanishvili, have already found themselves in all kinds of troubles, from arrests and criminal charges to alleged abductions and even gunshot incidents.
Some say Ivanishvili is going after people whom he personally suspects of misusing his money or violating trust, using captured state institutions, from parliament to prosecutors to courts, as tools. “Ivanishvili threatens his debtors that he will not only prevent them from leaving the country, but also take everything from them and bleed them dry in poverty,” Nika Simonishvili, lawyer and former head of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, wrote on Facebook when commenting on the pending bill on July 4.
‘Draconian’ Measures
The legislative package foresees changes to several laws, including the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code. Once the draft is enacted, those found guilty of financial crimes, who are yet to repay damage to the victims, will be barred from leaving the country for years, even after serving their prison or probationary terms.
The bill lists specific criminal offences where the travel ban would apply, including fraud, extortion, misappropriation or embezzlement, property damage by deception, damage or destruction of property, concealment of property through fraudulent or sham transactions, abuse of power, and interference with computer data or systems for financial gain. Most of these offenses must involve damages “in large quantities,” an aggravated circumstance under the law, for the court to impose a travel ban.
A travel ban can apply unless the compensation is repaid, or the victim waives their right to compensation, or the victim consents to the lifting of the travel ban. The ban remains in effect for a period twice as long as the term required to expunge or remove the record of conviction for the respective financial crime. For example, in the case of a financial crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the travel ban may extend for up to 12 years following the completion of the sentence.
To add to the gravity, the draft law also permits the recovery of stolen or embezzled funds not only from the offender’s assets, but also from the assets of close relatives or other persons to whom the convict transferred property for free or on preferential terms following the financial offense in question, or if the assets were transferred or acquired through a transaction considered as money laundering.
The bill also prohibits informal agreements aimed at alleviating the convict’s lot. Fines or up to three years’ imprisonment are foreseen for the convicted offender who generates undeclared revenue exceeding twice the minimum subsistence level (currently set at approximately USD 100), or acquires real estate or a vehicle through such an arrangement. Similarly, individuals, including family members, who provide such funds or property to the convict may also be subject to a fine and face up to five years in prison, with the property subject to confiscation.
Transferring funds to the personal bank accounts of convicts, if the bank operates under the supervision of the Georgian central bank, or formally transferring property into their possession will still be permitted, as such assets can be seized to compensate victims
Former Officials, Business Associates in Trouble
The bill’s introduction to Parliament came amid a wave of high-profile arrests, detentions, and controversies involving once-close associates of Georgian Dream and patron Bidzina Ivanishvili, which touched former senior officials as well as prominent businessmen.
Giorgi Bachiashvili, former head of Ivanishvili’s Co-Investment Fund and a close Ivanishvili associate before their fallout in 2022, was the first former associate openly targeted by Ivanishvili. He was accused by Ivanishivli of defrauding him and fled the country, facing the charges. He was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison, but was arrested in May, following an alleged abduction by senior security officials from abroad. On May 1, the Tbilisi City Court ordered Bachiashvili to repay 9,000 bitcoins, worth about USD 867 million, to Ivanishvili.
Georgian Dream’s Mamuka Mdinaradze confirmed the draft financial crime laws were “inspired” by the Bachiashvili case.
Next was Romeo Mikautadze, Georgia’s former Deputy Economy Minister, who was arrested on June 21 by the State Security Service on charges of abuse of power and money laundering. He is accused of laundering more than GEL 2.5 million between 2017 and 2024 while holding senior public positions. The lavish lifestyle of the family of Mikautadze, known as a crony to ex-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, has featured in several journalistic investigations before. GD Economy Minister, Levan Davitashvili, who was widely considered a competent technocrat, was also abruptly removed soon afterwards.
The bizarre circumstances of the sudden arrest of Giorgi Ramishvili, an influential businessman and the founder of the sprawling Silk Road Group, who was charged with carrying a firearm in a checked-in luggage early in July, drew questions. Ramishvili and his lawyers tried to play down the case as a misunderstanding, and he was soon released on bail. Still, his arrest fuelled earlier speculation that Ivanishvili was “calling in” money he considered to be owed to him.
Soon followed another dramatic development, with Tornike Rizhvadze, former Adjara government head, who resigned in April, landing in hospital with a near-fatal gunshot to his chest on July 7. Prosecutors promptly described the incident as a suicide attempt, while pro-GD media circulated Rizhvadze’s “note” where the ex-official allegedly said he faced accusations of “corruption and protecting drug dealers,” and appealed to Bidzina Ivanishvili and Irakli Kobakhidze to protect his family. Aleksi Akhvlediani, who served as the head of the Maritime Transport Agency, was briefly detained in the incident over negligent storage of firearms but was released by the court on bail. In 2015, Nika Gvaramia, then executive of the Rustavi-2 TV and now a detained opposition party leader, claimed that Akhvlediani was acting as a “middleman,” passing him the messages “from the government” to yield control of the TV station.
Rizhvadze’s incident followed earlier allegations circulated by Levan Khabeishvili, former chairman of the opposition United National Movement party, who claimed that a former official had fallen out of favor with Bidzina Ivanishvili and was expected to “repay” over USD 100 million to Ivanishvili.
Khabeishvili argued that other former and current officials had found themselves in similarly precarious positions, including Grigol Liluashvili, the former head of the State Security Service, who resigned in April; ex-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who announced his departure from politics the same month; and Tbilisi’s incumbent mayor, Kakha Kaladze.
Author: Gigi Kobakhidze/Civil.ge